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BOLIVAR'S ENTRANCE INTO CARACAS. 



SOUTH AMERICA 



A POPULAR ILLUSTRATED HISTORY 
OF THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN 
THE ANDEAN REPUBLICS AND CUBA 



BY 

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH 

AUTHOR OF "OVER THE ANDES," " ZIGZAG JOURNEYS," ETC. 



" Where Liberty is, there is my country." 

— La Fayette. 




NEW YORK 
DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. 

1898 



18481 



Copyright, 1898, by 
DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE Co. 




TWO COPIES RECEIVED 




V^Vo^t ^VcrO.H^<\% 



PREFACE 

THIS volume relates the story of liberty and progress 
in Latin America. It is also an introduction to a 
study of the Andean republics and those on the Spanish 
Main. 

The struggle for liberty in Cuba but follows the events 
of the Latin republics of the Andes, and throws a new 
light on those heroic endeavors. 

South America is one of the lands of the future. The 
immigration to that country is now rivaling that to North 
America, and to the overcrowded populations of Europe 
the south temperate zone is the waiting world. 

An English poet of prophetic gifts is recorded as say- 
ing that in the progressive development of America, South 
America, or the table-land of the Andes, was not unlikely 
to become the theater of great achievements, an opinion 
also shared by the author of "Social Evolution." It is 
objected to this that much of South America is tropical, 
and that the lands of the Sun are unfavorable to the de- 
velopment of the virtues and arts of peace. But out of 
nearly such conditions of mingled temperate and tropical 
climates came the poems of Job and Homer, the arts of 
Egypt, and the sacred literature whose principles govern 
the conscience of the world. Sarmiento, the educational 
President and prophet of Argentina, once said that Buenos 
Ayres would become the greatest city of the three Amer- 



vi PREFACE 

icas. This may be too large a vision. But whatever may 
be the future of South America, her growth is such as to 
make her recent history a very interesting study to the 
popular mind. 

To write an adequate history of South America and 
Central America would require a lifelong preparation of 
study and travel, and more than ordinary ability, insight 
and vision, to which gifts the present writer can make no 
claim. He has wished to interest others in the story of 
liberty in these lands, to picture Bolivar's march to the 
south and San Martin's to the north, the meeting of these 
heroes, the central campaign in the Peruvian highlands, 
and the progress of the new republics after the Congress 
of Panama. If such be but history in outline and picture, 
it is a story most pleasing to write, and, we may hope, 
not uninteresting to read. 

In 1895 the writer visited Buenos Ayres, went over the 
Andes to Valparaiso, and up the west coast to the ports 
of Tarapaca, to Callao, Lima, and Guayaquil, and afterward 
to Cartagena and Costa Rica. These excursions led him 
to spend much time, on his return, in reading works on 
these countries in the Boston Public Library, which is rich 
not only in the collections made by Ticknor and Prescott, 
but in books of travel in South America, and local narra- 
tives of South American cities, and in biographies of heroes 
like Don Ambrosio O'Higgins, Lord Cochrane, General 
William Miller, and many South American leaders of 
English descent or of English education. The reading 
of these books, and that of the travels of Humboldt, 
has been followed by the reading of the popular works 
of Sarmiento, Mitre, Pilling, and of local poets, some of 
whose poems are events in picture. Strongly partizan 
pamphlets, and books forged out of some special ex- 
perience, like Larrazabal's vivid " Life of Bolivar," of 



PREFACE Vll 

which only the first volume was published, and like James 
Briggs's " Life of Miranda," give episodes in strong color- 
ings, which are interesting to collect and reproduce in an 
historical order. 

In this course of reading, following his excursions, the 
writer was led to wish to tell the story of South American 
liberty for popular reading, as an introduction to a study 
of South American history. He has sought to explain 
events so clearly to the reader that his narrative may 
prepare the way for more philosophical studies of a most 
interesting phase of the recent progress of mankind. 

South America, after the manner of the lesser countries 
Japan and Mexico, seems about to surprise the world by 
her industrial achievements. The liberators of the vice- 
royalties and the pioneers of science are the heroes of a 
great preparation, and in harmony with this spirit of patri- 
otic educational and industrial progress this interpretation 
is written. As much as South America owes to Bolivar, 
San Martin, and Sucre, the emancipators, she feels her ob- 
ligation to men like William Wheelwright of Newburyport, 
Massachusetts, who made for her shores, ports, lighthouses 
and harbors, founded the South American Steam Naviga- 
tion Company, caused the railway across the pampas to be 
built, created the canal of Ensenada, and planned the rail- 
way over the Andes from Buenos Ayres to Santiago de 
Chili and Valparaiso. This captain of industry has two 
grand monuments in South America, and a more humble 
memorial in his native town of Newburyport. 

The immigration of the eastern world to South America 
is becoming so great that already this eastern movement 
across the placid seas of the equator is laying the founda- 
tion of a new Latin race under the peaks of Tupungato, 
Aconcagua, Illimani and Chimborazo. The " purple 
empire that England lost," resourceful Argentina, extends 



Vlll PREFACE 

her ports and multiplies her cities, in which float the 
flags of Italy, Germany, England and the East. Buenos 
Ayres has now a population of nearly seven hundred 
thousand souls, and may number nearly a million at the 
close of the century. 

A land of wonder awaits these new immigrants. 
South America embraces an eighth of the globe. The 
whole area of the United States could find room in the 
marvelous valley of the Amazon, whose fertile fields would 
sustain an incalculable population. The Mississippi would 
be lost in the river that drains the Andes. The glittering 
domes of the Cordilleras surpass by a mile the highest 
peaks of the northern part of the hemisphere. Cotopaxi 
lifts her snowy chimney five times as high as Vesuvius. 

The stupendous table-lands where the Incas ruled in 
their glory, and that begin at silver Potosi, the highest 
large city on earth, and end at Quito, in the shadow of 
Chimborazo, have an area of more than four times the 
State of New York. Lake Titicaca, the supposed crater 
of a volcano, is twelve thousand feet high. The Bolivian 
highlands, the region of the alpaca, the vicugna, and of 
the crags of the condor, are capable of maintaining a 
population surpassing that of France or Spain. And in 
these temperate altitudes are to be found all varieties of 
climates, and the productions of all zones. 

Here spread the coast solitudes of Atacama, with its 
resources of silver, and the white desert of Tarapaca, the 
natural laboratory of vegetable food, that causes the out- 
worn gardens of Europe to bloom again. 

The early history of these vast regions that await the 
future is one of moral and spiritual suggestion, of heroism 
and romance. The period of the Spanish and Italian dis- 
coveries has been a tempting theme to the writers on 
human achievement, and the ideal civilization of the period 



PREFACE IX 

of the Incas has interested the historian. The Spanish 
conquerors have been pictured in romance and song, and 
by the regretful pen of the philosopher. But the story of 
the heroes of the republics of South America, though it 
has found a considerable place in narrative and critical 
history, has not often been told in popular form. It is 
the purpose of this volume to tell this story, as the like 
story of our own land has often been told, for home read- 
ing, for the social club, the school-room, and for the 
pioneer of opportunity. 

In regard to the style of the book, the writer has aimed 
to make vivid and picturesque what seemed to him the 
heroic and prophetic. His purpose has been to interest 
the reader in what is most noble and promising, to be true 
to the spirit of events, and accurate in noting progress 
from the liberal and optimistic point of view. He has 
undertaken this introductory work less in the spirit of 
authorship than in the hope that he who reads this will 
read more from the authors cited, and be led to study the 
more adequate sources of information about a country of 
heroic achievement and wonderful resources, that promises 
to take a foremost place in the new history of the New 
World. 

28 Worcester Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 
July, 1898. 



INTRODUCTION 

THE whole of South America for the two centuries 
after the Columbian discovery was a viceroyalty of 
Spain. At first it had but one viceroy, the seat of whose 
government was in Peru. From a very early period Lima, 
which came to be called, in the poetic language of the con- 
querors, the " Pearl of the Pacific," was the " City of the 
Kings." In the golden days of the Spanish Main colonial 
settlements multiplied in the viceroyalty, and some of the 
most important of these were on the eastern coast. There 
New Granada arose, with the city of Cartagena, whose 
gigantic fortifications and walls are still a wonder. 

As the population grew the viceroyalty was found to 
be too large for the administration of the government. 
For this reason Spain created another viceroyalty in New 
Granada in 1718, and a captaincy at Caracas in 1734. 
During this period of subdivision a viceroyalty was founded 
at Buenos Ayres, and a captaincy in Chili. 

South America was wholly governed by the kings of 
Spain, who maintained for the judgment of its common 
affairs the Council of the Indies, or of West India. This 
council instituted a local court of inspection, called the 
Audiencia. This was also a court of appeal. The author- 
ity of these bodies was only advisory. The King of 
Spain governed all ; his will was supreme. 

The viceroy, or vice-king, represented the Spanish 



xii INTRODUCTION 

throne. He was president of the Council of the Indies. 
His salary was sixty thousand dollars, or pesos, in Peru, 
and forty thousand dollars in New Granada and Buenos 
Ayres. The viceroy, as a rule, held his office for five 
years. 

The cabildo was a popular assembly somewhat corre- 
sponding in purpose and form to a council of a mayor and 
aldermen. An alcalde was a judge, or a justice of the 
peace. A Spanish Creole was a Spaniard born in the 
colony. He was little more than a Spanish slave. 

These simple explanations are a necessary introduction 
to Spanish- American history for popular reading. 

The purple flag of the liberation of the north of South 
America went from Venezuela to New Granada, and 
thence to Ecuador and over the Peruvian Andes. It was 
first thrown to the breeze by Miranda, and was borne on 
its march of flame and blood to Peru by Bolivar. This 
was the southward march of liberty. 

The purple flag of the liberation of the south of South 
America went from Buenos Ayres (Argentina) over the 
Andes, and emancipated Chili and Peru. The flag was 
borne by San Martin, and the banner of the southern army 
of the Andes was emblazoned with the emblem of the Sun. 
This represents the northern march of liberty. 

The two flags of liberation, that of the north and 
that of the south, met in Peru, in Lima, the " City of the 
Kings." General Sucre completed the liberation in the 
Peruvian Andes. 

It is our purpose to describe the march of the two 
flags of liberation, the victory of the united banners in 
Peru, and to trace in outline the industrial and educational 
progress of the republics of the Sun. 

Ducoudray-Holstein, an officer under Bolivar in the 
war of the liberation, thus clearly presents the march of 



J 



INTRODUCTION Xlll 

events in the Atlantic provinces of South America from 
the beginning of the revolution to the battle of Carabobo, 
near Valencia, Venezuela, which was the Yorktown of the 
war of the patriots of the north : 

" The following are the principal revolutions and 
changes of government on the Main, from April 19, 18 10, 
until December, 18 19, when Venezuela and New Granada 
united under one government, which took the name of the 
Republic of Colombia. 

" In Venezuela the Spanish government was changed 
by a revolution which took place at Caracas, April 19, 
1 8 10, when the Captain- General Emparan and the Real 
Audiencia were arrested, and a provisional junta was 
formed, under the name of ' Junta Established for the 
Preservation of the Rights of His Majesty, the King Fer- 
dinand VII.' 

" On March 2, 181 1, the Congress of Venezuela opened 
its sessions at Caracas. It was composed of the deputies 
of the following provinces : Margarita, Caracas, Merida, 
Cumana, Barcelona, Barinas and Truxillo. By an act of 
July 5, 181 1, Congress declared the republic of Venezuela 
free and independent of Spain. On the 21st of December 
of the same year it sanctioned a constitution which bound 
the provinces together by a federal act, like that of the 
United States of America. But these several provinces, 
being exposed both to internal faction and to invasion from 
without, were scarcely able separately to bear the expense 
incurred for their own preservation, so that the expenses 
of the general government, and the support of the army 
and navy, fell chiefly upon Caracas. Congress was in a 
prosperous state, when the dreadful earthquake, together 
with the loss of Puerto Cabello, and the capitulation of 
Vittoria, between Generals Miranda and Monteverde, 
ruined the government, and destroyed the Congress and 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

republic of Venezuela (July, 1812). The country was left 
to anarchy, and subjected to the power of the sword. 

"On August 14, 1814, General Simon Bolivar entered 
the city of Caracas as conqueror, and assumed the title of 
' Dictator Liberator of the West of Venezuela,' and es- 
tablished an arbitrary military government. General San 
Iago Marino had done the same before in the provinces of 
Cumana, Barcelona, etc., under the title of ' Dictator 
Liberator of the Provinces East of Caracas.' 

"July 17, 18 14, the Spaniards again entered the city of 
Caracas. In consequence of the battle of La Puerta, 
where the two dictators were beaten by Boves, the Span- 
iards shortly after took possession of the provinces, which 
the two dictators and their troops had evacuated. In the 
night of the 24th and 25th of August the dictators em- 
barked at Cumana. 

" Venezuela again became subject to the bayonet, and 
each military chieftain governed despotically the territory 
occupied by his troops. 

"May 5, 1 8 16, Simon Bolivar, with some armed men, 
entered again the territory of Venezuela (the island of 
Margarita), and assumed the title of ' Supreme Chief, 
Captain- General of the Forces of Venezuela and New 
Granada,' etc. 

" On the 6th of July of the same year he lost that title 
and Venezuela, when he suddenly embarked at Ocumare 
for the Dutch island of Buen Ayre. 

" On December 31, 18 16, General Bolivar landed again 
at Barcelona, and reassumed the title of ' Supreme Chief, 
Liberator of the Republic of Venezuela, Captain- General,' 
etc. He had been called through the powerful influence 
of Admiral Louis Brion, but under the express condition 
that he should, upon his arrival, assemble a congress at 
Barcelona. He not only neglected to do so, but he per- 



INTRODUCTION XV 

secuted the members of the Congress at Cariaco, May, 
1817. 

" In consequence of General Bolivar's unfortunate cam- 
paign in 1 8 18 against Morillo, the general dissatisfaction 
of the inhabitants of Angostura with that campaign, and 
the strong representations of Brion, Zea, Manuel Torres, 
Dr. Roscio, Dr. Carli, and other patriots, the supreme 
chief was compelled at last to assemble a congress at the 
city of Angostura, under the name of the Congress of the 
Republic of Venezuela. Bolivar was chosen President of 
the republic." 

After the battle of Boyaca, Bolivar united Venezuela 
and New Granada, under the name of Colombia. 

The revolution against the Spanish rule in America 
began in Buenos Ayres, and in the north at Caracas at 
about the same time. The two movements met in Altro, 
Peru. 

Under the rule of the viceroys the people of South 
America had practically no rights. Spain only allowed 
them certain privileges in return for obedience and service. 
They were made slaves and were robbed in the name of 
the government. Out of their servitude and enforced 
labor Spain became one of the richest of nations. It was 
death for a Creole to protest in any open way against in- 
justice. One of the greatest forms of injustice was the 
mita, or the enforced labor of the native population. 
On the Spanish Main the tyranny was as great as it was 
on the land. 

There were enlightened and patriotic priests; some of 
the leading heroes were priests ; but in general the eccle- 
siastical tyranny was as rigorous as that of the state. (See 
Appendix.) The church as well as the state enforced the 
view that America was the gift of the Holy See to Spain, 
and that it was the divine right of the king to rule, 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

and that the king could do no wrong. Any plea for 
justice outside of royal authority was both treason 
and heresy. 

Such was the civil condition in South America when the 
first revolution arose under Tupac Amaru. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface v 

Introduction xi 

CHAPTER 

I. Tupac Amaru, the Inca Revolutionist . . i 
II. The- Knight Errant of Liberty — The 

Dream of Miranda 19 

III. Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain and of 

the Indies 28 

IV. Simon Bolivar, the Washington of the 

South 34 

V. The Independence, 181 i — The Event of 

July 4 — The Declaration 43 

VI. The Earthquake at Caracas — An Heroic 
Episode — Monteverde — The Unlocked 
Door — The Failure of Miranda ... 53 
VII. The Colonial System — What Latin Amer- 
ica Suffered — The Spanish Viceroyal- 
ties — The Manifesto of Argentina — 
The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain 
— The Persecutions of the Native Amer- 
ican Races — Cuba — The Creoles ... 69 
VIII. The Liberating Army of the North — 
The Triumph of Bolivar — The Battle of 
Araure — Petion — Piar — Bolivar Elect- 
ed President — The March over the 
Cordilleras — The Battle of Boyaca — 
Angostura — Colombia 93 

xvii 



XVIU CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IX. The Battle of Carabobo — Paez — The Lib- 
erty of the North — The Magnanimity 

of Bolivar 114 

X. Argentina — The Liberating Army of the 

South 119 

XL Cuzco — The Banner of the Sun 126 

XII. The Battle of Maypo — Chili — Peru — The 
Meeting of the Two Liberators — Abne- 
gation and Moral Heroism of San 
Martin 131 

XIII. Ayacucho, the Decisive Battle of South 

America — Its Dramatic and Thrilling 
Events — Bolivia — The Triumphal En- 
trance of Bolivar into PoTOsf 139 

XIV. The Panama Congress of 1826 — The Union 

and Peace of the American Republics — 
The Last Days of Simon Bolivar . . , 149 
XV. William Wheelwright and the Industrial 

Heroes 154 

XVI. The Monroe Doctrine — The Venezuelan 

Boundary 160 

XVII. Brazil 170 

XVIII. The Progress of Argentina — The Tyrants 

quiroga and rosas mltre the period 

of Progress 174 

XIX. The Tyrants of Paraguay 184 

XX. Education in Argentina and the Other 

Republics — Sarmiento 192 

XXI. Dom Pedro II. and the Progress of Brazil 

— The History of the Amazon 200 

XXII. The Congress of the Republics at Lima, 
1847 — The Progress of the West Coast 
— Balmaceda — Guiana — The Pan-Ameri- 
can Congress, 1889-90 210 

XXIII. The Chili-Peruvian War — The Affair of 
the " Esmeralda," and the Heroism of 



CONTENTS xix 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Arturo Pratt — The Battles of Tara- 

paca and mlraflores 224 

XXIV. History of Liberty in Cuba — The Cuban 
Heroes — The Destruction of the 

" Maine " 230 

XXV. Porto Rico 246 

XXVI. The South American Orators — The Ora- 
tions of Bolivar — The Farewell of San 

Martin 24 8 

Appendix 259 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Bolivar's Entrance into Caracas Frontispiece 

Facing page 

Bolivar on Monte Sacro 36 

View of Caracas, Venezuela 40 

Street Scene in Caracas, Venezuela, Showing Capi- 
tol on the Left 46 

Inner Court of the Capitol, Caracas, Venezuela . 50 

Bolivar at the Earthquake of Caracas 56 

Street Scene in La Guayra, Venezuela 60 

Map of South America 80 

Piar before his Execution 104 

Washington Plaza, Caracas, Venezuela 118 

The Banner of the Sun 126 

Mausoleum of San Martin, in Buenos Ayres. . . . 138 
Chart showing Steamship Routes to and from Amer- 
ican and West Indian Ports 158 

Quiroga and the Tiger 176 

A Scene in the Cattle-Raising District on the 

Pampas of the Argentine Republic 182 

Scene on the Great German Railroad of Venezuela, 

Connecting Valencia and Caracas 198 

Chilian Volcano, in the Andes in Chili. Height 

9446 Feet 214 

A Party of Indians conducting a Baggage-Train of 

Llamas, Chili 22 4 

xxi 



CHAPTER I 

TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 

THE first struggle for liberty against the Spanish 
dominion in Latin America was made by a de- 
scendant of the Incas — Tupac Amaru. The effort was 
a spasm; it ended in one of the most cruel and pitiable 
scenes of history; but its influence lived. The sympa- 
thetic reader may well inquire, after reviewing the trag- 
edy of Amaru, will the spirit of the events that made 
Tupac Amaru the first apostle of liberty in the Peruvian 
highlands ever return again to the Quichua race in the 
ancient Incarial empire? 

Visions become history, and patriots build, like the 
Hebrew legislator, after the pattern shown them on the 
mount. Washington, following the example of Cincinna- 
tus, laid down the sword and took up the implements of 
husbandry, and dreamed, in Mount Vernon's gardens, of 
the time when all the nations of the world should make a 
compact of peace. This larger faith in humanity found 
expression in the International Conference of 1890, called 
the Pan-American Congress, whose inspiring spirit was 
the Hon. James G. Blaine, then the Secretary of State. 
Near the close of that memorable congress of the repre- 
sentatives of seventeen American republics, Mr. Blaine said : 

" If in this closing hour the conference had but one 



i 



2 SOUTH AMERICA 

deed to celebrate, we should dare call the world's atten- 
tion to the deliberate, confident, solemn dedication of two 
great continents to peace, and to the prosperity which has 
peace for its foundation. We hold up this new Magna 
Charta, which abolishes war and substitutes arbitration 
between the American republics, as the first great fruit of 
the International American Conference. The noblest of 
Americans, the aged poet and philosopher Whittier, is the 
first to send his salutation and benediction, declaring : 

" ' If in the spirit of peace the American Conference 
agrees upon a rule of arbitration which shall make war 
in this hemisphere well-nigh impossible, its sessions will 
prove one of the most important events in the history of 
the world.' " 

Such are the hopes of Latin and English America, for 
whose liberties from foreign dominion Tupac Amaru 
struck the first blow, and made himself the earliest mar- 
tyr. The memory of the past haunted this native hero of 
liberty. In his veins flowed the blood of benefactors of 
his race who had reigned a thousand years. One of his 
ancestors, bearing his name, had dared to lead a rebellion 
against the tyranny of Spain in the dark days of the vice- 
royalty. 

Tupac Amaru I. (too-pak ah-mah-roo), the Inca after 
whom this later hero was called, was born in Cuzco about 
1540, and died there in 1573. He was the grandson of 
Atahualpa, and the second son of Manco Inca Yupanqui, 
who succeeded the unfortunate Atahualpa on the throne. 
The eldest son of Yupanqui, Sayri Tupac, submitted to the 
Spanish crown, and was baptized and given a place as sub- 
chief under the rule of the conquerors. On his death the 
Incarial succession fell to Tupac Amaru. This Indian had 
the spirit and pride of his ancestors. He refused to re- 
nounce his family claims in favor of the Spaniards, and 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 3 

aspired to restore his race to their pristine glory. He 
sought refuge in the mountains of Vilcabamba. The 
Peruvian Indians recognized him as the true Inca, the 
royal representative of the children of the Sun. For this 
reason the Spanish viceroy, Francisco de Toledo, deter- 
mined to bring him within reach of his power. In 1572 
the viceroy pretended to be sending troops to Chili, but 
he ordered two hundred and fifty of these auxiliaries to 
explore the mountain fortresses of Vilcabamba, and to 
capture the young prince and bring him to the viceroyalty. 

Tupac Amaru met the invaders like a hero, but was 
again and again defeated by their superior arms and skill. 

He then fled, with his family and followers, to the 
mountain fortresses of his principality, which he deemed 
impregnable. Before the rugged mountain walls rolled a 
stream which he believed no foreigner could cross without 
destruction. 

Captain Martin de Loyola, in the service of the viceroy, 
resolved to cross this stream with twenty intrepid followers, 
under the cover of night. He suddenly appeared in the 
camp of the Inca, captured the prince, and carried him to 
Cuzco. He was there accused of leading a revolt, and 
was beheaded. 

His descendant, Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, Amaru II., 
seems to have inherited his purpose and spirit. He 
dreamed of the independence of his people, and of the 
return of the first Inca in the glory of the rising sun. 

Before we narrate the incidents of this hero's history, 
let us glance at the race from which he sprang. 

There are great legends, worthy of noblest representa- 
tion in poetry and art, that belong to the dusk of American 
tradition, to the twilight of the gods. They are fanciful, 
but they are parables, and are full of the noblest suggestions. 
One of these relates to Quetzalcohuatl, the mythic apostle 



4 SOUTH AMERICA 

from the eastern world to Guatemala, and to the golden 
age that arose under his preaching, when the birds sang 
never so sweetly, when the flowers bloomed never so 
brightly, when a single ear of corn taxed the strength of a 
man, and no violence was allowed to bird, beast or man. 
Quetzalcohuatl, of whom the beautiful bird of Guatemala, 
the quetzal, is still a reminder, — a bird that, according to 
John Lloyd Stephens, the explorer, is " the most beautiful 
thing that flies," — is associated in an agreeable fable with 
the person of St. Thomas, the doubter, the apostle who said 
to the disciples, when Christ was about to take the ways 
of peril, " Let us go, that we may die with him." Ac- 
cording to the old legends, which have received color 
from the beautiful sculptured cross found at Palenque, St. 
Thomas went to the Indian peninsula of Malabar, founded 
there the church that has lived in the Nestorians of Persia, 
and, according to an extension of the same fable, came to 
Mexico by the supposed way of Chinese Tartary, Bering 
Strait, and the West Pacific coast, and there appeared as 
Quetzalcohuatl. The legend, which has many forms, has, 
notwithstanding its absurdities, left us a picture of the 
golden age in America as poetic as Vergil's " Pollio," and 
as interesting as the prophecy of the Cumaean sibyl. 

The second great legend that awaits poetry and art is 
that which attributes the origin of the Peruvians to Jew- 
ish wanderers from Armenia, or from other parts of the 
Orient. This legend also has many forms. 

A most interesting work published in 1854, entitled 
" Peruvian Antiquities," by Mariano Eduardo de Rivero 
and Johann Jakob von Tschudi, translated by Francis L. 
Hawks, D.D., thus pictures some of the incidents of this 
great but improvable tradition : 

" Passing by the proofs, more or less ingenious, advanced 
by Heckewelder, Beltrame, De Laet, Emanuel de Moraes, 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 5 

Beatty, Samuel Stanhope Smith, William Penn, Count 
Crawford, and many others, we will make particular men- 
tion of Adair, who lived forty years among the Indians, 
and who, after the most thorough examination and minute 
comparison, assures us that the origin of the Indians is 
Israelitish, founding his assertion principally on the reli- 
gious rites, which plainly present many points of agree- 
ment with those of the Hebrew people. 

" Like the Jews, the Indians offer their first-fruits ; they 
keep their new moons, and the feast of expiation at the 
end of September or in the beginning of October; they 
divide the year into four seasons, corresponding with the 
Jewish festivals. According to Charlevoix and Long, the 
brother of a deceased husband receives his widow into his 
house as a guest, and after a suitable time considers her as 
a legitimate consort. There is also much analogy be- 
tween the Hebrews and Indians in that which concerns 
various rites and customs, such as the ceremonies of purifi- 
cation, the use of the bath, the ointment of bear's grease, 
fasting, and the manner of prayer. The Indians likewise 
abstain from the blood of animals, as also from fish with- 
out scales ; they consider divers quadrupeds unclean, as 
also certain birds and reptiles ; and they are accustomed to 
offer as a holocaust the firstlings of the flock. Acosta 
and Emanuel de Moraes relate that various nations allow 
matrimony with those only of their own tribe or lineage, 
this being, in their view, a striking characteristic, very 
remarkable and of much weight. But that which most 
tends to fortify the opinion as to the Hebrew origin of the 
American tribes is a species of ark, seemingly like that of 
the Old Testament. This the Indians take with them to 
war. It is never permitted to touch the ground, but rests 
upon stones or pieces of wood, it being deemed sacrile- 
gious and unlawful to open it or look into it. The priests 



6 SOUTH AMERICA 

scrupulously guard their sanctuary, and the high priest 
carries on his breast a white shell adorned with precious 
stones, which recalls the urim of the Jewish high priest, 
of whom we are also reminded by a band of white plumes 
on his forehead. 

" According to the credible testimony of Adair, the 
Indians of North America celebrate the feast of first-fruits 
with religious dances, singing in chorus these mystic 
words : ' Yo Meschica, He Meschica, Va Meschica,' form- 
ing thus, with the three first syllables, the name of Je-ho- 
vah, and the name of Messiah, thrice pronounced, follow- 
ing each initial. On other occasions may be heard in their 
hymns the words Aylo, Aylo, which correspond with the 
Hebrew word El, ' God.' In other hymns occur the 
words hiwah, hiwah, hydchyra, ' the immortal soul,' and 
Schiluhyo, Schiluhe, Schiluhva, of which Adair thinks 
that Schihth is the same with the Hebrew word Schaleach, 
or Schiloth, which signifies 'messenger' or 'pacificator.' 
The use of Hebrew words was not uncommon in the re- 
ligious performances of the North American Indians, and 
Adair assures us that they called an accused or guilty 
person haksit canaha, ' a sinner of Canaan ' ; and to him 
who was inattentive to religious worship they said : 
' Tschi haksit canaha ' (' You resemble a sinner of 
Canaan '). Lescarbot also tells us that he had heard the 
Indians of South America sing ' Alleluia.' 

"Those authors who attribute a Hebrew origin to the 
American tribes do not agree among themselves touching 
the coming of the Israelites into the New World: some 
think that they came directly from the eastern hemisphere 
to the West, and established themselves in the central and 
southern parts of this hemisphere ; but the majority are of 
the opinion that they crossed Persia and the frontiers of 
China, and came by the way of Bering Strait." 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 7 

A writer named Montesinos would have us believe that 
the Peruvians came from Armenia, that here were King 
Solomon's mines ; and he dates the events of poetic history 
from the deluge, of which the Peruvians seem to have 
traditions. 

Several curious writers have attempted to prove that the 
first Inca, Manco Capac, and the poetic divinity of Mexico, 
Quetzalcohuatl, were Buddhist missionary priests. 

In a work like ours, which seeks to tell the story of lib- 
erty and progress in Latin America, to picture an ad- 
vance in civilization by incidents, a study of the Incarial 
period would not be expected ; but a glance at that won- 
der of romance is permissible, as it associates itself with 
an heroic revolution in which one of Inca blood was a 
leader. 

Gonzalo Pizarro and Prescott have pictured the Incas 
in their glory. The authority of the Peruvian monarchs 
exceeded that of the most powerful kings of the eastern 
world. Under the dominion of Huaina Capac the Inca 
empire extended from the regions north of Quito to the 
river Maule in Chili, or eight hundred leagues, thus ex- 
ceeding the greatest empire in Europe, and was bounded 
on the west by the Pacific, and on the east by the pampas. 
It contained some ten millions of inhabitants,* a number 
that greatly diminished after the conquest. 

Over this glittering empire the Inca was the absolute 
lord. " The very birds will suspend their flight if I com- 
mand it," said Atahualpa to the Spanish invaders, in the 
fabulous language of the Peruvian kings. 

According to Garcilasso de la Vega, himself of Inca 
blood, the government of the Incas was paternal. One 
only needs to read Garcilasso's wonderful book to be con- 
vinced that Mr. Bellamy's prophetic retrospect entitled 
* According to some authorities, thirty millions. 



8 SOUTH AMERICA 

" Looking Backward " has already largely been enacted in 
the theater of the Andean world. Some of the accounts 
of the glory of the Incas seem to belong, indeed, to the 
dazzling epoch of fables. Plutarch tells us that the birds 
in the air were affected when the Roman herald proclaimed 
the liberty of the Greeks ; and Sarmiento, in his " Revo- 
lution," says the shouts that hailed the Inca on his pil- 
grimages among his people caused " the birds to fall to 
the ground." 

The ancient Peruvian realm was one of equality and 
fraternity. The people were like one family, of which the 
Inca was the father. None were rich, none poor. All 
labored for the good of the whole, and the labor was not 
exacting. Age and infancy were alike protected. The 
temples were opened to all ; the delights of the festivals 
were shared by all ; the bards sang for all ; and the people 
rejoiced together in the golden gardens of Yucay. 

The memory of the Incarial festivals was the light of 
the past. In those days the highways were strewn with 
flowers. The worshipers on the hills acclaimed with de- 
light the rising of the sun, wondering if that would be the 
day when the first Inca would return to the world again. 
The sun's rays filled with a golden light the crystal crowns 
of the Andes; hymns were sung in the white processions 
bearing the Inca lilies ; drums were beaten, trumpets were 
blown, and bells, silver and golden, added their music to the 
choruses of joy. The sun's rays met the rays reflected by 
the gold in the great temple, from the golden roof of which 
were taken seven hundred plates, each as heavy as four men 
could bear, for the redemption of Atahualpa. The priests 
bowed down to the reflected splendor. 

The scene is Cuzco. A mighty and shadowy fortress 
lifts itself over the city. The wall facing the city is pre- 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 9 

cipitous, is twelve hundred feet long, and sustains three 
colossal towers. This Cyclopean wall has been so built 
that it seems to be but a single stone; the blade of a 
knife could not be inserted into its seams. The sun ap- 
pears above the mountains. The city bursts into song. 
A long procession, led by the royal family and priests, 
takes up its march for the golden gardens of Yucay, 
which surpassed those of Cashmere. The young Inca, 
just proclaimed, walks beside his father. He wears on his 
head the insignia of the llcrnta, with two feathers from the 
sacred bird of the kingdom, the coraquenque. In his ears 
are hung golden orejones, or heavy pendants. He sup- 
ports a girdle of jewels, the colors of which typify the 
virtues. The sun in the sky becomes a fiery splendor as 
the procession approaches Yucay, the gardens of delight, 
some twelve miles from the Temple of the Sun. The 
maize that adorned the temple was made of gold, with 
husks of silver and tassels of silk. The flowers were of 
gold, emeralds and precious stones. In front of the pro- 
cession is borne the jeweled banner of the iris. The pro- 
cession enters the gardens amid the songs of bards, the 
music of viols, and banks of flowers. Dances follow. At 
a festival given in the gardens of Yucay in honor of the 
birth of Huascar, son of Huaina Capac, the nobles danced 
to a chain of gold seven hundred feet long, with links 
nearly as large as a man's wrist. A festival was held at 
Quito during which the rising moon shone upon a tem- 
ple of silver situated on a high hill. It filled the temple 
with living splendor. 

The people were happy. They believed in an ineffable 
God that ruled all the world. The sun was his message to 
them, and the Incas were the human interpreters of his will. 

The meridional world, or what is now Alta Peru, or 



IO SOUTH AMERICA 

Ecuador and Bolivia, may not, indeed, have been the 
Ophir of old, but it was a golden empire. Francisco 
Lopez de Gomara thus describes the house of the Inca: 
" All the service was of gold and silver, except copper, 
which was used for strength. They say that the Incas had 
a flower-garden by the sea, where the trees and flowers 
were of gold and silver." * To this the opulent Garcilasso 
de la Vega, of Inca blood, adds : " In all of them were 
gardens and orchards, where the Inca refreshed himself. 
In them were planted all the fine and beautiful trees and 
odoriferous plants which abounded in the kingdom, after 
which models they imitated in gold and silver many trees 
and other smaller bushes most perfectly, with their leaves, 
flowers and fruits ; some seemed about to bud, others were 
half ripened or matured, and others entire and perfect in 
their size. Besides these and others, they made counter- 
feit resemblances of various species of corn, with their 
leaves, ear and stem, with their roots and flowers; the 
fibers which are found in the ear and stem were of gold, 
and all the rest of silver, soldered together. The same 
difference was made in the other plants, so that the flower, 
or whatever other part inclined to yellow, was imitated in 
gold, and the rest in silver. There were also to be seen 
animals, large and small, cast in gold and silver, such as 
rabbits, lizards, snakes, butterflies, foxes and mountain- 
cats; also birds of all descriptions, some placed in the 
trees as if singing, others flying about and sucking the 
honey from the flowers. There were also deer and fawns, 
lions and tigers, and all the other animals and birds which 
the country produced, each in its place, as true to nature 
as the reality. In many houses there were baths with large 
jars of silver and gold, from which water was poured into 
the baths. Where there were natural fountains of warm 
* " Peruvian Antiquities." 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST II 

water there were also baths of great splendor and rich- 
ness. Among other displays of wealth, there were col- 
lections of billets of wood, imitated in gold and silver, 
as though they were deposited to be expended in the 
service of the houses." * 

The Inca roads, a part of which were constructed in the 
period of Yupanqui, were as marvelous as the temples 
and golden gardens. Humboldt describes these roads, 
which filled him with wonder. Lopez de Gomara says:f 
" There were two royal roads from the city of Quito to 
that of Cuzco, — very costly and noble works, — the one 
over the mountains, the other across the plains, each 
extending more than a thousand miles. The one which 
crossed the plains was walled on both sides, was twenty- 
five feet broad, with ditches of water outside, and was 
planted with trees called molle. The other, which was on 
the mountain, was also twenty-five feet wide, cut in some 
places from the solid rock, and in others made of stone 
and lime; for, indeed, it was necessary to cut away the 
rocks or fill up the valleys to bring the road to a level. 
It was a work which, as all agree, exceeded the pyramids 
of Egypt, the paved ways of the Romans, and, indeed, 
all other ancient works. Huayna Capac restored, en- 
larged, and completed these roads ; but he did not build 
them entirely, as some assert, nor could they have been 
wholly constructed in his lifetime. These roads went in 
a direct line, without turning aside for hills, mountains, or 
even lakes. For resting-places they had certain grand 
palaces, which were called tavibos, where the court and 
royal army lodged. These tambos were provided with 
arms, food, shoes and clothing for the troops. In their 
civil wars the Spaniards destroyed these roads to impede 
the march of their enemies. The Indians themselves de- 
* " Peruvian Antiquities." t Ibid. 



12 SOUTH AMERICA 

molished a part of them when they waged war and laid 
siege to the cities of Cuzco and Lima, where the Spaniards 
were." 

The betrayal of Atahualpa, the last Inca before the 
conquest, and his tragic death, have often been pic- 
tured. 

There was one Spaniard, by name Lejesema, or Lequi- 
zano, a conquistador of quick conscience, who, although 
a soldier, came eventually to see the robbery of the 
Inca empire in its true light. He was the last of the con- 
querors. In his old age he was truly penitent for the part 
he had taken in the great crime against humanity, and he 
trembled before God. He had received as his share of the 
robbery of the Incas the golden image in the Temple of the 
Sun — the golden sun of the empire. The latter was a huge 
plate of burnished gold, round like a shield, with rays that 
spread over the sacred face of the temple, that reflected 
the sun at its rising. 

In his early life Lejesema was a noted gambler. Gam- 
bling seems to have been a passion with him. After 
receiving the golden sun of the gods as his share of the 
robbery, which would have brought him wealth and fame, 
it would seem that he could desire nothing more. But 
the passion for gambling haunted his soul. He staked the 
golden sun of Peru one night, and lost. Hence arose 
the proverb in Spain in regard to an all-controlling pas- 
sion: "Juega el sol antes que amanezca" ("He gambles 
away the sun before sunrise "). 

When this man had repented he desired that Spain 
should know the truth in regard to the nobility of the 
Peruvians, and the wrong that had been done them in the 
name of religion. So out of his tortured soul was wrung 
a remarkable confession, for which we are indebted to 
Prescott. 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 1 3 

The line of the Incas was as follows : * 

" 1. Manco Capac began to reign in the year 1021, and 
died in 1062, after reigning forty years. 

" 2. Sinchi Rocca reigned thirty years, from 1062 to 109 1. 

" 3. Lloqque Yupanqui reigned thirty- five years, from 
1091 to 1 126. 

" 4. Mayta Capac began to reign in 1 126, reigned thirty 
years, and died in 1156. 

"5. Capac Yupanqui inherited the power in the year 
1 156, reigned forty-one years, and died in 1 197. 

"6. Inca Rocca began to reign in 1197, and died in 
1249, after having reigned fifty-one years. 

" 7. Yahuar Huaccac had a reign of forty years, from 
1249 to 1296 ; seven of these he passed in private life, after 
having renounced in 1289, in favor of his son Viracocha. 

"8. Viracocha occupied the throne from the year 1289, 
and died in 1340. This Inca predicted the ruin of the 
empire, and the arrival of white and bearded men. His 
son, Inca Urco, reigned only eleven days, being deposed 
by the nobles of the empire as a fool and incapable of 
governing. 

" 9. Titu Manco Capac Pachacutec came to the crown in 
the year 1340, reigned sixty years, and died in 1400, after 
having lived, according to tradition, a hundred and three 
years. 

" 10. Yupanqui inherited the regal power in the year 
1400, reigned thirty-nine years, and died in 1439. 

"11. Tupac Yupanqui reigned from the year 1439, and 
died in 1475, after thirty-six years' reign. 

" 12. Huayna Capac succeeded Tupac Yupanqui in the 
year 1475, reigned fifty years, and died in 1525. This 
chief was considered the most glorious of all the Peruvian 
monarchs. 

* " Peruvian Antiquities." 



14 SOUTH AMERICA 

" 13. Huascar received the crown in 1526, reigned seven 
years, and died in 1532. 

"14. Atahuallpa, or Atahualpa, began to reign in the year 
1532, governed the whole empire for one year and four 
months, after having reigned six years in Quito only, 
and died on the scaffold, by order of Pizarro, in the public 
square of Cajamarca, the 29th of August, 1533. 

"After the conquest of the Spaniards, the brother of both 
the preceding monarchs was crowned as Manco Capac II. 
He reigned with a light shadow of royal dignity until the 
year 1553. He was succeeded by his three sons, Sayri 
Tupac, Cusititu Yupanqui, and Tupac Amaru. This last 
was beheaded in Cuzco, in the year 15 71, by order of Don 
Francisco de Toledo, fifth viceroy of Peru." 

Tupac Amaru the younger was the fifth in descent from 
Inca Tupac Amaru, who had been put to death in 1 5 7 1. 
His name as a subject of the viceroy was Jose Gabriel 
Condorcanqui. He was educated at the college at Cuzco, 
amid scenes that daily recalled the glory of his ancestors 
and the injustice that had been done to his race. The 
college had been founded for the education of Indian 
chiefs. The youth learned the Spanish language. He 
seems to have been an apt scholar. To a high spirit and 
natural gifts he added many polite accomplishments. But 
his heart throbbed for his people. The Spanish rule over 
them had reduced them to slavery. The mita, or forced 
labor, not only made them slaves, but victims of merciless 
cruelty. They toiled without recompense, and suffered 
without justice. They were helpless. 

Tupac Amaru began his career as a petitioner for justice 
to his race. He was brought into association with Spanish 
priests and officers, and to them he presented the misery 
of the Indians, and begged them to reform the laws in 
regard to servitude. His appeals met with no response. 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 1 5 

Labor under the lash went on, and the young Inca's heart 
could do little but bleed. He had an income from an 
estate. Out of this he assisted those in need, paid the 
taxes of the poor, and sheltered those who in their poverty 
and despair turned to him for assistance. He seems to 
have been a man of great dignity of deportment, and of a 
philosophic temperament. He was one who loved others 
better than himself, and whose deeds were an honor to 
humanity. 

His father was a cacique, or tributary chief. Tupac 
Amaru succeeded him at the age of twenty. His province 
was Tungasuca, a high plateau of the Andes, one of the 
winter lands of the sea. The cry of the wrongs of his race 
found him there, and gave him no peace. He sought in 
every way to obtain redress for the slaves of the hateful 
mita. His mission was met only by excuses or scorn. 
The thought of the liberation of the Indians became 
sweet to him in his Andean fortress. The Spaniards were 
merely robbers of the country, who put might for right. 
The whole land groaned under their tyranny. Why could 
not their power be overthrown by the union of all the 
people whom they oppressed, and why might not the lands 
of the Sun be made independent and free? His dream 
of liberty grew, and was stimulated by new cases of cruelty 
and injustice. It was but the dream of an Adams, a La- 
fayette, a Miranda, a Bolivar. 

The governor of Tinta, near Lima, was one of the most 
merciless of the oppressors of the Indians. Tupac Amaru 
formed a plan for rescuing his people from the power of 
this tyrant. He led a force against him, arrested him, 
brought him to Tungasuca, and put him to death. The 
Indians now flocked around Tupac Amaru. An army 
was formed. The oppressed people were eager to be led 
against their taskmasters. Tupac Amaru descended from 



16 SOUTH AMERICA 

the hills with an army that constantly grew stronger. He 
faced Cuzco, and found the city of his ancestors in his 
power. He liberated the workmen in the Spanish fac- 
tories, and set at naught the mita. He was advancing like 
a conqueror when the Spanish officials met and asked for 
negotiations. With a sense of his own honor, and trusting 
to the justice of his cause, he consented to open negotia- 
tions with his crafty enemies. He formed a protected 
camp, and issued a proclamation setting forth the griev- 
ances of his race, and calling upon all the people to rise 
and make a common cause for liberty. The proclamation 
was circulated throughout the country. The people 
flocked to Tinta, and hailed the Inca as their deliverer. 
The Peruvians, with arms in their hands, for a brief time 
breathed the air of liberty. 

Tupac Amaru now addressed letters to the bishop and 
to the officers of the municipality, asking for those meas- 
ures of justice which are the birthright of all men. The 
whole population of Peru was now rising. The viceroy was 
alarmed. In February, 1 781, a Spanish force was gathered 
to march against the Inca, who was still proposing a nego- 
tiation by which reforms might be secured peaceably. It 
was justice that the Inca desired, not blood. The answer 
came, as brutal as if from the regions beyond mercy : 
" We refuse all negotiation. If you will surrender now, 
the torture of your execution may be lessened." Tupac 
Amaru could do but one of two things : conquer a peace 
for the liberty of the people, or surrender and die. He 
was at the head of two hundred thousand men who were 
looking to him for salvation from a living death. The 
people thought that they saw in him the return of the 
Incas and of the golden age. He must strike for the in- 
dependence of the slaves of the mita. A battle was fought. 
The rude army of patriots under the Inca was defeated, and 



TUPAC AMARU, THE INCA REVOLUTIONIST 1 7 

driven back in disorder at the point of the Spanish bayonet. 
Tupac Amaru and his family were made captives. 

On May 18, 1781, the conqueror issued a proclamation 
which caused humanity to shudder. The Inca with his 
family was to be publicly executed. His tongue was to 
be cut out; he was to be tied to four horses by his arms 
and legs, and to be drawn asunder as the horses should 
be led four different ways. It was a refinement of old 
Spanish cruelty. The infernal imaginations of the tyrants 
of those dark days have found but few equals in the records 
of mankind. The Inca was first made to suffer mentally 
and emotionally by witnessing the torture of his family. 
His uncle, an old man, had his tongue cut out, and was 
then strangled by an iron screw. His son, a youth of 
twenty, was then subjected to the same horrible tortures, 
in sight of the Inca. Then his wife was led into view, and 
her tongue torn out, and the screw applied to her neck. 
His youngest boy of ten years was compelled to witness 
these scenes. The Inca was then tortured by the knife, 
and lassos tied to the girths of four horses were fastened 
to his arms and ankles. The horses were headed in four 
different ways. They moved, and the bleeding form of the 
Inca rose in air. As the young son of the Inca saw the 
spectacle, he uttered a piercing shriek. The hearts of 
the Spaniards who heard that cry shrank with horror. It 
is ' said that the boy's voice haunted for a lifetime the 
people who heard it. Says a writer : " It was the death - 
knell of the Spanish colonial dominion." For there were 
Spanish hearts that could feel, even in the days of the 
viceroys. An evil priest had said to Pizarro, " I absolve 
thee," as he urged Pizarro to seize Atahualpa. But there 
were good priests as well as the agents of cruelty. 
There were patriot priests whose country was the world, 
and whose countrymen were all who live. 



1 8 SOUTH AMERICA 

Liberty in South America began in the patriot clubs of 
London and Caracas. There was formed a club in Lima 
in silent memory of this and similar events. It was a 
club of silence, but it had a powerful purpose. Sympa- 
thetic priests, literary men, and Spanish women with the 
hearts of mothers joined that club. It grew. Its purpose 
was to secure justice to all, and the protection of the 
rights of all men. The club prepared the way for liberty. 
Tupac Amaru's death was to abolish the mita and to 
liberate his people. Of all martyrs of liberty, none ever 
died under more heartrending circumstances than he who 
was torn asunder in the great square of Cuzco, amid the 
fallen temples of his despoiled people. 

So sadly but nobly perished the last son of the Incas, 
the first apostle of liberty in Latin America. 



CHAPTER II 

THE KNIGHT ERRANT OF LIBERTY— THE DREAM 
OF MIRANDA 

HUMAN events are often preceded by visions. It is 
possible that Columbus, as he watched the stars 
on the quays of Genoa, saw America in a vision. Certain 
it is that he had more faith in his intuitions than in his 
scientific studies. " God," he said, " made me the mes- 
senger of the new heavens and the new earth, and told me 
where to find them. Maps, charts, and mathematical 
knowledge had nothing to do with the case." 

The emancipation of South America began in the youth- 
ful visions of Francisco Miranda (i 756-1816), a young 
cadet of noble family, born at Caracas,* in the Maritime 
Andes. He was a splendid dreamer, but he had not the 
sublime creative faith of a Columbus. He could see in his 
mind what he was incapable of carrying into execution ; 
he had the prevision of liberty in South America, but was 
able only to show by failure what might be wrought by a 
mind that was practical. The patriot's character has been 
severely handled by the soldier and the critic; but the 
victories of the vanquished count for much in the ultimate 
values of human history. Miranda failed, and seldom has 
a high heart had a disappointment more pathetic. Mi- 

* Some authorities state Santa Fe, in New Granada, in 1 754. 
19 



20 SOUTH AMERICA 

randa, however, did not dream his young dream of the 
liberty of the South in vain. Though a visionary, he led 
the way to the independence of his country. 

He rose to the rank of captain in the army, when his 
mind became thrilled with the cause of the patriots in 
North America struggling for independence. He was 
also inspired by the conduct of the French republicans. He 
came to North America, and served in the French con- 
tingent of the Continental Army from 1779 to 178 1. At 
this time he was twenty-three years of age. As he wit- 
nessed the splendid achievements of Lafayette, and as the 
English power in America went down at Yorktown, he 
thought of his native land. He aspired to be the Wash- 
ington of Venezuela, the emancipator of the slaves of the 
Spanish viceroys, the hero whose sword should lead armies 
under the fiery arch of the equator, and make free the 
populations of the meridional world. He went to Cuba 
and to Europe. He traveled through England, Germany, 
Turkey and Russia, dreaming always the dream of South 
American emancipation. The French Revolution fired 
his heart. He went to Paris, entered the army of the 
patriots, and rose to the rank of major-general. His 
name adorns the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in the list of 
the heroes of the Revolution. In 1797 he incurred the 
displeasure of the French Directory, and fled to England, 
where he mingled in official society. He told his dream 
of South American liberty to William Pitt, and asked his 
aid in a scheme to proclaim liberty in the Andes. In 
Russia he won the favor of the Empress Catherine. 

What was the true character of this lonely man who 
was passing from country to country, and who was filled 
with these dazzling visions? 

In "The History of Don Francisco de Miranda's Attempt 
to Effect a Revolution in South America," by James 



THE KNIGHT ERRANT OF LIBERTY 21 

Briggs, who was an officer under Miranda, we find a de- 
scription of the hero : " He [Miranda] is a great moralist 
or moralizer. Vice and meanness in every degree or shape 
are, according to his own declarations, entirely against his 
taste and judgment. If you take his word for it, he 
is a lover of virtue even to enthusiasm. To use his own 
language, he ' abominates tyranny, hates fools, abhors 
flatterers, detests pride and laments the corruption of 
modern days.' He loves freedom, admires candor, esteems 
wise men, respects humility and delights in that noble and 
beautiful integrity and good faith which distinguished the 
golden times of antiquity." Briggs further says of him: 
" He would renovate the perverted minds of mankind and 
restore the ancient beatitudes, when every excellence and 
virtue prevailed among men, for the happiness of the 
present race, and the perpetual prosperity of future gen- 
erations." This is a qualified but not wholly unpleasing 
picture of one who might indeed have been a follower of 
Cincinnatus and Washington. 

A letter from Miranda to President Thomas Jefferson, 
who had predicted South American liberty, dated " New 
York, January 22, 1806," confirms the view of Officer 
Briggs. Miranda says : " If the happy prediction which 
you have pronounced on the future destiny of our dear 
Colombia is to be accomplished in our day, may Provi- 
dence grant that it may be under your auspices and by 
the generous efforts of her own children. We shall then 
in some sort behold the arrival of that age the return of 
which the Roman bard invoked in favor of the human 
race: 

" ' The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes, 
Renews its finished course : Saturnian times 
Roll round again, and mighty years, begun 
From this first orb, in radiant circles run.' " 



22 SOUTH AMERICA 

A mind whose dreams of life thus sought the sublime 
interpretation of the Fourth Eclogue of Vergil was one 
of no common order, and must ever command admiration. 

Officer Briggs brings his volume of letters to a close 
with these criticisms : " After all, this man of renown, 
I fear, must be considered as having more learning than 
wisdom, more theoretical knowledge than practical talent. 
He is too sanguine and opinionated to distinguish between 
the vigor of enterprise and the hardness of infatuation." 

A man may have good morals and every polite accom- 
plishment, and yet fail in a noble cause, if self-seeking 
be not eliminated from his purpose. The critics of Mi- 
randa have said that the hero sought to advance his own 
interests more than those of his country, and was more 
willing to imitate the achievements of Washington than 
to be a Washington. Men must be judged largely by 
their ideals, which are their true selves, and we must place 
ourselves among those who would give credit to the high 
purpose for the welfare of mankind that everywhere led 
the young steps of Francisco Miranda. Miranda sug- 
gested to the world the cause and method of South 
American independence. Wendell Phillips used to say 
that there were two kinds of men in the world — one who 
went forth and accomplished something, and the other 
who showed how the accomplishment should have been 
done in some other way. Miranda belonged to those that 
plan but do not successfully execute. 

Miranda was rich, but his property was sacrificed to the 
cause. He lived in London as one in another world ; for 
he thought of nothing, talked of nothing, sought for 
nothing, but South American independence. Failing to 
secure aid for his cause in England, he came to New 
York, organized an expedition of ardent and adventurous 
spirits, and sailed for Venezuela to proclaim a republic. 



THE KNIGHT ERRANT OF LIBERTY 23 

He met with disaster at sea, and the Venezuelans at the 
port where he landed were not prepared to respond to his 
call. Disappointed, but not disheartened, he returned to 
England. His effort seemed to have been fruitless, but 
it was powerful in suggestion. The very discussion of it 
stimulated the cause of Venezuelan independence. 

In 1 8 14 there appeared at Albany, New York, a book 
entitled " History of the Adventures and Sufferings of 
Moses Smith during Five Years of his Life, from the 
Beginning of the Year 1806, when He was Betrayed into 
the Miranda Expedition." The book is not friendly to 
General Miranda, for Smith was led by false representa- 
tions of a recruiting-officer named Fink to join the 
patriotic expedition. The narrative is graphic. It fur- 
nishes a picture of the ideals and methods of Miranda, 
and of the first attempt for South American liberation. 
We quote from this narrative: " On the 15th of February 
we arrived at Jaquemel in St. Domingo. There our tri- 
colored flag was displayed, and our printing-press was 
set to work on board the Leander. Proclamations were 
struck off, addressed to the people of South America by 
Don Francisco Miranda, commander-in-chief of the Colom- 
bian Army of South America. In them were set forth 
the griefs of the people, their wrongs and hardships, and 
the intention of the general to emancipate them. The 
officers, who were constituted before by brevet, now re- 
ceived their commissions from the general, by virtue of 
the power vested in him. It was announced that the 
Cleopatra, Captain Wright, was to join us at this port, and 
there was a constant lookout for her. It was also ex- 
pected that we should be joined by another American 
merchant ship, called the Emperor, commanded by Cap- 
tain Lewis. To effect this junction, Captain Lewis and 
Major Smith went to Port au Prince, but returned without 



24 SOUTH AMERICA 

success. Two unarmed American schooners, one called 
the Bee and the other the Bacchus, were, however, 
chartered, and various modes of recruiting resorted to in 
order to increase the army, which, after all, did not amount 
to more than two hundred men, seamen included. An 
oath was administered to the officers to be true and faith- 
ful to the free people of South America independent of 
Spain, to serve them honestly against all their enemies, 
and to obey the orders of the supreme government of 
that country, and the officers by them appointed. The 
officers, on receiving their commissions, signed a promise 
to be governed by the articles of war of the United States, 
with such formal alterations only as might suit them to 
the different government under which they then were or 
might be. From this time the discipline, which had been 
strict before, became rigorous." 

It was Moses Smith's lot to be put, with those enrolled 
by Mr. Fink, on board the Bee, and anchored close to 
the Leander. The alarm and discontent of these sailors 
were great, but their murmurs were silenced by the terrors 
of the articles of war. They concerted plans of escape, 
and once rose to effect their deliverance ; but their officers 
hailed the Leander, which sent an armed force to subdue 
them. They were unarmed, and easily overcome. Some 
were wounded, others punished summarily by imprison- 
ment or put into irons. They still, however, held to the 
determination to effect their escape on the first favorable 
occasion, or to sell their lives dearly. 

" After being ten days at sea," the narrative continues, 
" instead of making the place of our destination, which 
was the small island of Bonair, on the coast of the Span- 
ish Main, we were, by some mistake of the pilot, or by 
other mischance, deeply engulfed in the bay of Vene- 
zuela, seventy miles to leeward, with current and trade- 



THE KNIGHT ERRANT OF LIBERTY 2$ 

wind against us. We therefore directed our course for 
the island of Aruba, which we reached on the 4th of April. 

" We were joined at Aruba by an English schooner 
called the Echo, Captain Philips, a smuggler, to whom it 
was said the general gave sealed orders, but who left us 
after a few days, and never appeared again. We beat up 
toward Bonair, and on the 24th of April had the mainland 
and the islands of Little Caracas and Bonair in sight. 
An officer, Major Donahue, was ordered to go in the 
Bacchus to Bonair, to see whether any English frigates 
or other vessels of war were there, as we expected to 
be joined by such. There were no English vessels in 
the port, nor did Major Donahue bring intelligence of 
any. On the following day, the 25 th, a proclamation was 
issued, offering to the sailors who should enlist as soldiers, 
to serve under the Colombian standard on shore, thirty 
dollars per month, a bounty of fifty at the close of the 
campaign to each one who should distinguish himself, a 
bounty to the non-commissioned officers, and to all who, 
having distinguished themselves, wished to return to their 
families, a gratuity proportioned to their courage and 
fidelity. With these promises, and much haranguing and 
persuasion, many were prevailed on to agree. 

" Many of these men had been forced into this expe- 
dition against their will. They had not yet shed blood 
nor taken any active part in warfare. The laws of their 
native country were not intentionally violated by them, 
and they had not incurred the vengeance of any other. 
They determined to escape. Two undertook to sound 
the others. They were Benjamin Davis and Henry Sperry. 
Every one of the men engaged by John Fink agreed cor- 
dially to cooperate, and some of the sailors promised to 
join ; but before the time arrived for executing their plot 
it was discovered. Their plan was to mutiny, take com- 



26 SOUTH AMERICA 

mand of the schooner, and steer for the nearest port 
where they could escape ; but the ships were discovered by- 
two Spanish guardacostas, one a brig of twenty guns, 
the other a schooner of eighteen. They were hailed by 
the captain of the Leander, and ordered to prepare for 
action. After some broadsides exchanged between the 
armed vessels on both sides, they were ordered to board 
the enemy on the lee side, while the Leander was to 
attack and board the ship on the weather side. They 
obeyed their orders, but before they could accomplish 
them, to their inexpressible astonishment, they saw the 
Leander, with Miranda on board, haul down her colors 
and make off. The remaining ships were boarded and 
taken by the Spaniards. The men were plundered, 
stripped, and rifled ; and so impatient were the conquerors 
for the booty that before they took the time to pull the 
clothes off they first cut the pockets to make sure of 
the contents. So expert were they in this inglorious kind 
of warfare that they seldom failed to clear away the pocket 
with a single stroke. The prisoners were next pinioned 
and secured, tied back to back, and in that humiliating 
posture conveyed to Port Cabello. There they were dis- 
embarked, and driven into the castle of St. Philip, chained 
two and two, and loaded with irons. They were divided 
into two parties of about thirty each, the whole number 
taken in the two schooners amounting to about sixty. 
They were then thrown into two separate dungeons, and 
suffered indescribable privations. 

" Their trial took place toward the end of June. It was 
not till the 20th of July that their doom was announced 
to them. On that day their prison Moors were thrown 
open, and they were told by an interpreter that they must 
come out to be hanged. The names of ten of the prisoners, 
all officers in Miranda's army, were first called, and the 



THE KNIGHT ERRANT OF LIBERTY 27 

interpreter read this sentence from a paper he held : ' In 
the morning of to-morrow, at six o'clock, you, and each 
of you, are sentenced to be hanged by the neck until you 
are dead ; afterwhich your heads aretobe severed from your 
bodies, placed upon poles, and distributed in the most 
public parts of the country.' The remainder, being nine- 
teen in number, were sentenced to eight years' imprison- 
ment in the castle of Boca Chica, near Cartagena, which 
sentences were all executed." 

The conduct of Miranda in this case has been severely 
criticized. It would seem that it was not only the sailors 
who had been deceived, but that he himself had been. 
Had he not escaped, he must have found himself either a 
prisoner of the enemy or have been deserted by his own 
men. So ended his first vision of the emancipation of his 
country. 



CHAPTER III 

JOSEPH BONAPARTE, KING OF SPAIN AND OF 
THE INDIES 

WE must glance back to Spain, to " the Peninsula," 
to understand the relations that existed between 
that empire and her colonies. It was Napoleon I. who 
opened the door of opportunity to South America by 
deposing the quarrelsome family of Charles IV., and plac- 
ing his own amiable and faithful brother on the throne of 
the Bourbons. 

It was the time of Ferdinand VII., son of Charles IV., 
who was born in 1784. In his youth Ferdinand VII. was 
subject to the intrigues and jealousies of his family. The 
father and son quarreled, and on March 19, 1808, King 
Charles, in the interests of peace, abdicated in favor of his 
son, who became king under the title of Ferdinand VII. 
Soon after this change the old king became unsettled in 
his resolution, and wrote to Napoleon I. that his abdica- 
tion had not been voluntary, but had been forced. The 
most bitter enmity had arisen between father and son. 
Napoleon was ambitious to govern Spain himself through 
his own family, and make it a dependency of France. He 
refused to recognize Ferdinand as king, and sent troops 
over the Pyrenees, who occupied the Spanish capital. 
Ferdinand was induced to surrender the crown of Spain to 

28 



JOSEPH BONAPARTE 29 

Napoleon, and the latter planned to govern the country 
by one of his own family. 

The American colonies were faithful to the cause of the 
deposed Ferdinand VII. They regarded themselves as 
without a government, and set up their own governments 
in the name of Ferdinand VII., whom they held to be 
living in exile, and whom they expected to see returned 
to the throne. 

It is necessary mat the reader should know how the 
throne of Spain was filled during the critical period of 
South American history, when those revolutions which 
ended in the independence of that continent were occur- 
ring. 

Napoleon had a favorite brother, Joseph, who was born 
in Corsica, January 7, 1768. Joseph was the eldest 
brother of Napoleon, and the stay and support of the 
family after the death of his father. He removed with 
his brothers and sisters to Marseilles in 1793. The affec- 
tions of Napoleon seem to have been capricious, but he 
loved this brother devotedly. The affection was recipro- 
cated. Joseph Bonaparte was true to his brother through 
all the vicissitudes of the latter's stormy life. 

Napoleon had made his brother Joseph King of Naples. 
But Joseph was a lover of literature and art, and was not 
born for camps and courts. He had married the daughter 
of a wealthy citizen of Marseilles, an unambitious woman, 
for whom the splendors of royalty had but little charm. 
Her health was precarious. She did not go with him to 
Spain. 

It has been said that Napoleon really loved none of his 
family but Joseph, who was a father to him in his youth. 
This is more easily asserted than proved, but certain it is 
that his affection for Joseph was most touching. It was 
Napoleon's delight to make Joseph King of Naples, but 



30 SOUTH AMERICA 

he wished to give him a nobler and more historic throne. 
It was this affection and ambition that made Joseph Bona- 
parte " King of the Indies," a position that not one of 
the South American provinces would recognize. 

The struggle of Napoleon in behalf of his amiable 
brother is one of the pathetic chapters of his history, and 
few things are more touching than Joseph's fidelity to him 
under all conditions and circumstances. Their correspon- 
dence tells the affecting story of this wonderful friend- 
ship ; of its beginning, its decline on the part of Napoleon, 
and the fidelity of Joseph. 

We will give the story in extracts from the letters of 
these brothers, some of the passages of which are the 
deepest revelations of Napoleon's heart: 

" In whatever circumstances you may be placed by for- 
tune, you know well, my friend, that you cannot have a 
better or dearer friend than myself, or one who wishes 
more sincerely for your happiness. Life is a thin dream, 
and it will soon be over. If you are going away, send me 
your portrait. We have lived together so many years, so 
closely united, that our hearts have become one, and you 
know how entirely mine belongs to you." — Napoleon to 
Joseph, June 25, 1795. 

" Good-by, my dear friend ; be cautious as to the fu- 
ture and content with the present. . . . As for me, I am 
happy, and only want to find myself on the battle-field ; 
for a soldier must either conquer or perish gloriously." — 
Napoleon to Joseph, Paris, August 9, 1795. 

" Brother Joseph, what would father say, could he see 
us now! " — Napoleon, in his coronation robes, Notre 
Dame, 1804. 

" The glorious emperor will never replace to me the 
Napoleon whom I so much loved." — Joseph to Napoleon, 
1806, 



JOSEPH BONAPARTE 3 I 

" King Charles by his treaty surrenders the crown of 
Spain to me. The nation asks me for a king. I destine 
the crown of Spain to you." — Napoleon to Joseph, 
Bayonne, May 21, 1808. 

" Only a fool remains long in a false position. In forty 
years of life I have learned only what I knew almost from 
the beginning, that all is vanity except a good conscience 
and self-respect. 

" As soon as it becomes necessary I shall retire. Dur- 
ing my whole life I shall be your best, perhaps your only, 
friend." — Joseph to Napoleon, February 19, 1809. 

" I am here surrounded by the ruins of a great na- 
tion. . . . 

" If you take from me the army of Andalusia, what 
shall I be ? A porter of the hospitals, a jailer of prisoners. 

"Sire, I am your brother. You presented me to Spain 
as your second self. I felt the praise. I shall not fall 
below it in honor, in the magnanimity of my heart, and 
the tenderness of my love for my brother. . . . 

" I implore your Majesty to see in this letter only what 
I have desired to write — the simple truth which attached 
me to you in your cradle, and, whatever may happen, will 
accompany me to my tomb. . . . 

" I weep over the weakness of human nature ; over a 
family scattered, once so united ; over the change in the 
heart of my brother; over the fading of immense glory, 
which would have been better preserved by generosity 
than by any acquisition of power. 

" If the conclusion of my letter does not recall to you 
the tender and cherished friend of your infancy, if it does 
not tell you that I am to you what no other man can be, 
I have nothing to do but to retire." — Joseph to Napoleon, 
Madrid, August 8, 18 10. 

" You are no longer King of Spain. I do not want 



32 SOUTH AMERICA 

Spain, either to keep or give away. What will you do? 
Will you come to the defense of my throne? Are you 
able to do this? Have you sense enough to do this? 
Then retire to the obscurity of some country house near 
Paris. You will be useless, but you will do me no harm." 
— Napoleon to Joseph, December, 1813. 

In 18 1 3 Napoleon again placed Ferdinand VII. on the 
throne of Spain. Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain and the 
Indies, was a man who would have sought only the welfare 
of the South American colonies. But the colonies to the 
end refused to recognize him as king, and rejected all of 
his attempts to gain their favor. They were true to Ferdi- 
nand VII. in the early period of his banishment, but their 
experiments in self-government had led to the desire to 
become wholly independent of Spain. Ferdinand VII., 
after his return to power, became a tyrant, and was 
opposed to all liberal ideas. He reestablished the Inquisi- 
tion that Napoleon had overthrown, and sought to replace 
French republican ideas with those of absolutism. The 
reader will need to have in mind these events of Europe 
in order to see clearly the trend of Spanish history in the 
American colonies while they were disturbed by France. 

The three parties in these colonies at the time of the 
rise and growth of independent republican ideas were the 
adherents of Ferdinand VII., the few partizans of Joseph 
Bonaparte and the French succession, and the heroes of 
the independence. The last steadily grew. It was com- 
posed for the most part of the Creoles, or those born in 
America of European ancestors. Most of these were of 
Spanish or of Portuguese blood. The free air of America 
had given to these men a more liberal character. They 
became lovers of liberty, justice and human progress. A 
new race had formed under the Andes. It was a race of 
a fearless and noble spirit. Adequate justice has never 



JOSEPH BONAPARTE 33 

been done to this new liberty-loving race. The splendid 
deeds of their heroes have never been deservedly told or 
sung or recognized among heroic achievements. When 
the Creoles caught the spirit of liberty they gave to it 
their lives. It is the story of their struggles that we 
would tell. 

Napoleon crowned his own family, and Europe dis- 
crowned them. His rise and fall tended to carry repub- 
lican ideas into all lands, as the crusades wrought new 
relations in the whole human family of the East. The 
personal ambition of Napoleon did not destroy the ideal 
of the government of the people through chosen repre- 
sentatives. The short reign of the amiable and true- 
hearted Joseph, who loved all men and hated none, who 
helped all men and hindered no beneficent purpose, was 
an influence that aided the cause of South American inde- 
pendence, though the patriots had little sympathy with the 
French king when he occupied the throne. 

Although the Creoles did not recognize his authority, 
they found in the character of Joseph Bonaparte much 
that was favorable to their cause beyond the mere acci- 
dent of the change of thrones. Joseph was a man of such 
democratic tendencies as to present to the revolutionary 
viceroyalties that liberal type of a leader of men which 
the world was not fully prepared to receive. The coming 
and going of Joseph Bonaparte in Spanish political history, 
as we view it to-day, brought to South America her great 
opportunity. 



CHAPTER IV 

SIMON BOLIVAR, THE WASHINGTON OF THE SOUTH 

SIMON BOLIVAR, who united the inspiration of the 
cause of liberty in the South to the perseverance that 
fulfils great designs, was cradled in the Andes. This 
genius, who, with an army unschooled in the arts of arms, 
liberated his own country, and who stands next to Wash- 
ington in the glories of the liberties of the West, was born 
in Caracas, Venezuela, July 24, 1783. While there is 
some uncertainty as to the exact date of his birth, the 
above is probably correct. His father was a wealthy land- 
owner in Peru. The child seems to have early shown 
that brightness of intellect that made his life a success. 
He was, however, destined to be left alone in the world. 
His father died in 1 786, and his mother lived long enough 
to direct only his early education. 

The child was placed in the care of the most competent 
and inspiring instructors. Don Simon Rodriguez, who is 
said to have been " a kind of Diogenes," was his first 
instructor. He was followed in the work by accomplished 
ecclesiastics. At the age of fifteen, on the death of his 
mother, Don Carlos Palacios, the Marquis Palacios, his 
uncle, became his guardian. The family was wealthy and 
noble, and the boy was sent to Spain to complete his 
education. He spent several years in studying law in 

34 



SIMON BOLIVAR 35 

Madrid, and in traveling in Europe. He was particularly 
attracted to those countries of the South from which the 
great immigration to South America is now tending. He 
was introduced at the court of Spain by his maternal 
uncle, Don Esteben, who had the favor of the king. Boli- 
var thus relates an experience of this period : " The Prince 
of Asturias, Ferdinand, invited me, on one occasion, to 
play rockets. In doing so I struck him on the head with 
a shuttlecock. Ferdinand got angry ; but his mother was 
present, and obliged him to continue the game because, 
having invited a young gentleman to play with him, he 
had put himself on the same level. Who would have 
announced to Ferdinand VII. that this accident was only 
an omen, and that I should one day wrench from his crown 
his most precious jewel! " 

Bolivar then went to Paris, and there witnessed the clos- 
ing scenes of that great spasm of social forces, the French 
Revolution. Returning to Madrid, he married, at the age 
of nineteen, a most beautiful and accomplished daughter, 
then sixteen years old, of a family of rank. He embarked 
for America, with the intention of caring for his estates ; 
but his beautiful young wife died of yellow fever. He 
again returned to Paris to soothe his grief, and there re- 
mained for five years. 

The death of his wife had wrought a change in him. 
He now desired to wed his life to a cause. " I loved 
my wife much," he said, " and at her death I took an oath 
never to marry. I have kept my word. If I had not 
been bereaved, perhaps my life would have been different. 
I would not have been general of liberators. I would not 
have made my second voyage to Europe. I would not 
have had the ideas which I gained by my travels, nor 
would I have had the experience, or made the study of 
the world, of mankind and of things, which has been of 



36 SOUTH AMERICA 

so much service to me during the course of my political 
career. The death of my wife placed me early in the 
way of patriotic effort, and caused me to follow the chariot 
of Mars rather than the plow of Ceres." 

In 1805 he went to Italy, accompanied by his friend 
and preceptor Don Simon Rodriguez. Napoleon at that 
time was summoning his conquered empires to rise against 
Great Britain. The world, as it were, stood in awe of 
the victorious Corsican. Bolivar crossed the Alps on foot, 
visited Chambery, reputed to be once the home of Rous- 
seau, and was present at the coronation of Napoleon as 
King of Italy. He saw Napoleon place the iron crown of 
the Lombards on his own head, with the imperious decla- 
ration : " God has given it to me ! " He also saw the grand 
review of the Army of the Alps by Napoleon. Bolivar 
then visited Florence, Venice and Rome. 

At Rome he was a dreamer. The time was drawing 
near for him to leave beautiful Italy and the purple city 
of the Tiber. " Let us go to Monte Aventino [the Sacred 
Mount]," he said, one morning, to Rodriguez. They 
went. Ascending the hill, the city of the living and 
the dead, the seven hills, the Tiber and the Campagna 
were before their eyes. They stood upon the Sacred 
Mount, and they spoke of another sacred mount that rose 
over Caracas, awaiting heroes such as gave the Roman 
republic its glory. Bolivar was agitated. He read, as it 
were, the book of the world. He talked of the liberty of 
the land of the Andes, and then he held out his hand to 
Rodriguez. " Let us here make an oath," said he. " Let 
us here, on this sacred hill, pledge our lives to the liberties 
of our own country." Rodriguez's heart responded to 
that of Bolivar. Then and there they pledged themselves 
to the cause of South American independence. With that 
resolution the republics of the Sun were born. 



SIMON BOLIVAR 37 

From Rome Bolivar went to Hamburg, and sailed for 
home. On his return to his native country in 1809, he 
passed through the United States, and studied its insti- 
tutions. 

In that sublime resolution on Monte Aventino were 
the battle of Boyaca, the emancipation of New Granada, 
Venezuela and Ecuador, the restoration of liberty to 
Peru, and freedom for the whole of northern South 
America. That resolution was to guide his feet to the 
land of Washington from that of Cincinnatus. It was to 
cause him to enter Caracas in triumph, amid strewing of 
flowers and pealing of bells. It was to send him into self- 
exile. It was to lead him, in defiance of nature, to dare 
the Cordilleras, and snows, storms and perils, and live 
where animals perished. It would rob him of fortune, and 
cause his name to become a mockery in his mother-land. 
It would carry him on its refluent wave to Peru. It 
would cause him there to be hailed almost as a god — to 
pass under triumphal arches, amid singing priests, dancing 
Indians and prostrate people, while the thunder of cannon 
shook the peaks of the high Andes, and the bells of the 
cities rang aloud with joy. It would force him into exile 
again at last, and cause him to die of a broken heart. 

But that would not be the end. Caracas, that dressed 
in festal white for his triumphs, would receive him in robes 
of black for his burial, and entomb him in glory, and set 
his statue among the heroes of the world. 

In that vow on the Sacred Mount there was begun a 
new era in the world. 

He was now alone in the world, without father, mother, 
wife or child. He was something of a philosopher. Fresh 
from the dramatic efforts of the French people to estab- 
lish a system of republican government, he saw in the 
young republic of the United States the model for the 



38 SOUTH AMERICA 

future of his native land, and for all the Spanish Ameri- 
can states of the viceroy. The people of his own coun- 
try, awakened in part by the suggestions of Miranda, 
were alive to the cause of liberty. He went to Caracas 
and joined the revolutionary movements. He took part 
in the uprising of the people in April, 1810. He received 
an officer's commission from the Council of State (the 
junta), and was authorized, with Luis Lepez Mendes, to 
go to Great Britain to purchase arms for the protection 
of the revolutionary government. He returned with a 
cargo of arms in 181 1. 

Bolivar brought Miranda with him. The events that 
followed the association of Bolivar and Miranda are among 
the most affecting and inexplicable in human history. 
Bolivar had been advised by the supreme junta of 
Caracas not to bring the schemes of Miranda into the 
new movement, nor to consult with him about it. But 
he found Miranda in London, a lonely old man, a patriot 
with his own dream of the liberty of Venezuela. Bolivar 
could not refrain from seeking to cheer Miranda's heart 
by informing him of the progress of events. It was the 
seed sown by Miranda that was growing. Bolivar gen- 
erously went to him, invited him to return to Vene- 
zuela, and offered him the hospitality of his own house. 
Bolivar did not do secretly what he held to be an act of 
justice to a brother patriot. His own return to Caracas 
would be hailed as a triumph. He would enter the city 
amid acclamations. He determined that Miranda should 
ride beside him on the occasion. The people rejoiced 
when they saw Miranda. It thrilled them to see the old, 
virtuous, self-sacrificing patriot riding beside young Simon 
Bolivar. 

Ovations to Miranda followed the chief's return. He 
was looked upon now as a genius, schooled in all the 



SIMON BOLIVAR 39 

arts of war. His unsuccessful effort in 1806 was now 
regarded as a splendid achievement. The event of the 
19th of April had glorified it. It was, in the light of this 
event, a trumpet-call to liberty, a summons to victory. 

Another great movement for South America was now 
at hand. The people were gathering in electoral colleges 
to elect representatives to a congress in Caracas. This 
congress would deal with the question of independence. 
The electoral college of Caracas was the first assembly 
to exercise the principles of executive government in the 
Andes. To this congress Miranda was elected a deputy 
by the Pao of Barcelona. He was made lieutenant-general 
of the Army of the Provinces. He was now at the height 
of his influence, everywhere hailed as the apostle of liberty, 
as the man who had perceived the future in a vision. His 
position at this time shows how perilous is great oppor- 
tunity. 

Events are hurrying. The day of independence is at 
hand. Caracas stands white in the high plateau of the 
Andes, amid her green mountain wall of cacti, the peaks 
gleaming above her, the purple waters shining beneath 
her. The venerable Miranda is her hero, and young Boli- 
var among her men of promise. The independence which 
would make Venezuela a sister of the great republic of the 
North was the desire of all hearts, the vision of all eyes. 

At this happy period, who could have looked upon the 
city and have forecast the events of the year to follow ? 

The grand event that led to South American indepen- 
dence took place in Caracas on April 19, 18 10. That day 
was the beginning of Andean liberty. At this period of 
transition, when there was no general government on the 
Peninsula, but conflicting authorities, whom should the 
American colonies obey — Charles, Ferdinand, the royal 
juntas or the new regime? Why should they not elect 



40 SOUTH AMERICA 

juntas of their own, to do their will, and thus be indepen- 
dent? The junta could elect the rulers whom the people 
favored. 

In electing such a junta Caracas led the way. Napo- 
leon was indeed to place Ferdinand on the throne of Spain 
again, and the latter was to rule over Spain and her prov- 
inces with an autocratic will ; but after the election of the 
junta at Caracas, a decree had gone forth by which abso- 
lutism in the Andes would never be permanently re- 
established. 

The proclamation of the independence of Caracas 
through the junta was brought about by a series of dra- 
matic events. Liberty was in the air, but Emparan, the 
captain-general of the country, governed the people in 
the name of the crown of Spain. Three parties arose in 
Venezuela: those who adhered to the fortunes of King 
Ferdinand ; the imperialists, or Bonapartists ; and those 
who would establish an independent government, corre- 
sponding in spirit to the Sons of Liberty in the early days 
of the American Revolution. These sons of independence 
we may term the patriots. Of them Don Simon Bolivar 
was a leader. 

On April 18, 1810, Wednesday of Holy Week, there ar- 
rived at Caracas commissioners to announce that a regency 
had been formed at Cadiz, to which the Venezuelans were 
counseled to be loyal. Don Simon Bolivar spoke the 
word which turned this event into an inspiration to the 
patriotic cause. " This power," he said, " which fluctuates 
in such a manner on the Peninsula, and does not secure 
itself, invites us to establish the junta of Caracas, and be 
governed by ourselves." He had sounded the trumpet-note 
of liberty on the Andes. On the morning of April 19, 
1 8 10, the corporation of the city assembled in the church, 
according to the custom, to assist in the celebration of 



SIMON BOLIVAR 41 

Holy Thursday. They invited the governor, Emparan, to 
meet with them. Emparan was by nature a tyrant. He 
declared that he governed Caracas by the power of his own 
will. He ignored the counsels of the corporation. Emparan 
met the corporation on that holy day. He there heard 
broached the suggestion of a junta of Caracas. In the 
suggestion he perceived independence and the end of his 
own power. He was filled with rage. " I will talk with 
you after the divine offices in the church," said he to 
the city council, haughtily. He left the council-hall and 
went out. Whither had he gone ? Would he order their 
arrest? They awaited the event with suspense and appre- 
hension. What would this last royal governor of Spain 
do? Return to the council? That would be to break 
with Spain. Order the arrest of the patriots? That would 
leave him between two hostile powers. Either event 
might end his own power. It was an hour of suspense, 
an hour of human destiny. The governor represented 
the regency ; the city council represented self-govern- 
ment; and a Napoleon was on the throne of Spain. But 
it was the hour of opportunity, and the patriots so regarded 
it. At the door of the cathedral were the grenadiers. 
The patriots stayed in their chamber awaiting events. 
Emparan entered the cathedral. A patriot met him there. 
" Return to the council," said the latter, laying his hand 
on his arm. Emparan obeyed the touch. He reentered 
the council-room. The council had resolved on indepen- 
dence, and he was no longer governor. Spain in America 
was tottering to its fall. The forming of a supreme junta 
was now proposed to him. He perceived his loss of power, 
and made no opposition. Encouraged by his silence, the 
corporation was about to make him the president of the 
junta when a thrilling incident occurred. There was in 
Caracas an ardent patriot by the name of Jose Cortes 



42 SOUTH AMERICA 

Madariga, a native of Chili, and a deacon of the cathedral. 
He was at confession when he was told what was happen- 
ing. As if inspired by Providence, he rushed from the 
church to the council-room, and presented himself like a 
prophet before the patriots. He said : " I appear before 
you as a deputy of the clergy. Beware what you do at 
this hour. You are blind if you again put yourself at the 
mercy of the representative of Spain. Imperil not your 
fair prospect of sovereignty — of self-government for a 
people who should be free." He pictured the condition 
of political affairs in the Spanish peninsula, and then, with 
a godlike resolution, added : " I demand the deposition of 
your governor, in the name of the public good. Yes, I 
demand it in the name of justice, of my country, and of 
liberty!" 

The words that he spoke were decisive ; they were an 
unwritten law. Emparan fled to the balcony, and sum- 
moned the people to hear him speak. Madariga followed 
him. "Venezuelans," said the governor, " are you con- 
tent with my administration?" Madariga, standing be- 
hind him, made signs to the people to answer " No." A 
shout rose : " No ; we want you not ! " The last royal 
governor saw his doom. " Then I do not want you ! " he 
said. The revolution in spirit was accomplished. 

That day the junta of Caracas was proclaimed. It 
was an independent power. It might choose its own 
rulers. It voted not to recognize the regency of Cadiz, 
and announced that Venezuela, in virtue of its natural 
and political rights, would proceed to the formation of a 
government of its own, and would exercise authority in 
the name of Ferdinand VII. 

The council decreed the banishment of Emparan, but 
voted to pay his expenses to the United States. Not a gun 
had been fired. The revolution was an accomplished fact. 



CHAPTER V 

THE INDEPENDENCE, l8ll— THE EVENT OF 
JULY 4— THE DECLARATION 

THAT was a thrilling hour when, on July 4, 181 1, 
Don Simon Bolivar arose in the Patriotic Society of 
Caracas. Great political movements have frequently begun 
in clubs. The social revolution in France found its voice 
in La Montagne. The South American liberties were born 
in the Patriotic Club in London, of which Miranda was 
the inspiring spirit. The Patriotic Society of Caracas arose 
out of the necessities of the hour. It led public opinion, 
and developed the sentiment of liberty and independence. 

The provinces had elected a congress. The deputies of 
the people met at Caracas. The one question that excited 
all minds was, Shall the Congress sever the province from 
Spain, and proclaim to the world its independence? The 
air was electric with patriotism, but there were conserva- 
tive minds amid the popular enthusiasm for liberty. Such 
were jealous of the influence of the Patriotic Society. To 
them the society was a congress of counsel, whose opinions 
the legislative body followed as a matter of form. In this 
society these cautious minds saw the methods of the 
French Revolution. 

On July 4, 181 1, a very important meeting of the Pa- 
triotic Society was held. The declaration had been made 

43 



44 SOUTH AMERICA 

that the society was but another congress, without powers, 
and that its influence tended to schism. To rectify this 
mistake, young Bolivar rose, and poured forth his ardent 
and decisive sentiments in fiery words : " Patriots, there 
are not two congresses, one of opinion, and one of action. 
The times demand both bodies. Those who feel the neces- 
sity of the union of all hearts for liberty can make no 
schism. Patriots, what we desire is the union of all hearts 
and minds to inspire us in the achievement of our liberty. 
The hour has come. Yesterday to repose in the arms of 
apathy was a disgrace ; to-day it is treason. The voice 
of the people must be heard. The Sovereign Congress as- 
sembles ; it discusses what should be done in this crisis. 
What does it say? That we should commence the new 
order of things in a confederation. Are we not already 
confederated against foreign tyranny ? That we should 
await the result of the policy of Spain. Await? What 
is it to us, my countrymen, whether Spain sells her slaves 
to Bonaparte, or keeps them to do her bidding, if we our- 
selves are determined to be free ? What matters it, O my 
countrymen? Such sentiments as these are the sorrow- 
ful results of our chains. They tell us that vast projects 
should be developed calmly. Calmly? Are not three 
hundred years of servitude a sufficient preparation for de- 
cisive action ? Calmly ? Are three hundred years of like 
tyranny needed to make us men? Our Patriotic Society 
respects as it should the august Congress of the new nation ; 
but that Congress should remember that our Society re- 
sponds to the public heart, and is the focus of enlighten- 
ment in the revolutionary cause. Patriots, let us lay, 
without fear, the foundation-stone of South American lib- 
erty. To falter is to fall. Venezuelans, I move that a 
committee be appointed from this body to carry these 
sentiments to the Sovereign Congress!" 



THE EVENT OF JULY 4 45 

The speech, like that of Patrick Henry amid like events, 
was decisive. The next day the sun of the Andes shone 
on a republic, and not on a slave-pen of Spain. 

A deputy followed Bolivar, and in the spirit of the 
thrilling exhortation, " Let us lay the foundation-stone of 
South American liberty," moved that the " motion of 
Don Simon Bolivar be adopted." The society carried 
the motion with the fervor of the growing inspiration, and 
Dr. Miguel Pena was instructed to write the petition to 
the Sovereign Congress, expressing the views of Bolivar. 

The petition was read in the legislative body on July 4, 
the eve of the memorable day of Venezuela and of the 
meridional world. It was a hammer-stroke. The privi- 
leged group of the Patriotic Society had recorded an 
opinion that was unwritten law. 

It was July 5, 181 1. As the light poured over the pur- 
ple Caribbean Sea and the green Andes, the people hailed 
the rising sun as the beginning of a new era. Congress 
this day would record the patriotic declaration of the 4th. 
Congress assembled, presumably in the Federal Palace. 
The president of the Congress faced the future boldly, 
and in a clear and heroic voice said to the excited depu- 
ties : " We have now arrived at the hour most opportune 
to treat the question of absolute independence. The ques- 
tion should be discussed immediately." The galleries 
thundered with applause. Deputies sprang to their feet 
to support the motion. " Shall the motion to make Ven- 
ezuela free be adopted?" " Motion!" 

What events of three hundred years of servitude in 
South America lay behind that motion, trembling in the 
air, in that bright room lit by the sun of the Andes ! The 
provinces of South America had been but prisons of Spain. 
The mita had hardly been more oppressive upon them 
than the Spanish king had been to his own people of the 



46 SOUTH AMERICA 

Peninsula. Charles IV. once said, on returning a petition 
of the people of Merida for a school : " I do not consider 
learning proper in America." The Peninsular kings held 
all Americans in their provinces to be slaves, denied them 
the right to think, and accounted any independent expres- 
sion of thought as treason. 

Larrazabal, in a clear and masterly manner, makes a 
summary of the most conspicuous of these grievances : the 
printing and even the sale of books of any kind without 
the sanction of the Council of the West Indies were pro- 
hibited ; the reading of Robertson's popular history of 
America was forbidden under the penalty of death ; a pub- 
lisher of desirable works, presumably without the license 
of the West India Council, was condemned to wear the 
chains of the dungeons of Cartagena ; the newspaper press 
had no independent voice ; South American commerce 
with foreign countries was carefully guarded; no vessel 
was allowed to sail the Spanish Main without a license 
from the foreign court; the South Americans were not 
allowed to make any contract with foreigners, either to sell 
or to buy, without the approval of the Spanish courts; 
no one was allowed to visit America without the royal 
permission, under the penalty of death ; in 1 706 the Royal 
Audiencia of Peru published a law that no Indian should 
be allowed to have stores or to trade, for the reason that 
such industries put the native population on a social level 
with Spanish merchants. 

But not only were Americans forbidden to trade with 
foreign nations ; they were forbidden to engage in traffic 
between the provinces. The tyrant's hand was laid also 
upon the products of the fields. Here was prohibited the 
planting of vines and olives, there the sowing of flax ; in 
one place the export of wines, almonds and raisins, in 
another place the building of mills. The Spanish grandee 



THE EVENT OF JULY 4 47 

controlled everything in the interests of the throne of the 
Peninsula. 

The church was as intolerant as the government. It 
has been quite common for Protestant writers to depict in 
vivid colors this form of intolerance, themselves forgetting 
the ecclesiastical bigotry and crimes of the days of Calvin 
in Geneva and of Mather in New England. There are, 
however, few chapters of horrors in the world's history 
that can equal that of the Spanish Inquisition of Mexico, 
Cartagena and Peru. It would be a painful task to de- 
pict the tortures inflicted upon helpless people by it for 
obeying the laws which God has written in every soul. 
Apart from these merciless tortures, into which entered the 
spirit that animates the bull- fight, and which gratified the 
most inhuman and unchristian instincts, the general pur- 
pose of the ecclesiastical rule was to forbid any freedom of 
thought or of personal rights. 

Few South Americans ever rose to public office. Out 
of one hundred and sixty viceroys, only four were not Span- 
ish. Of minor offices a similar statement would be true. 

The taxed tea, the stamped paper, and like injustices 
that led to the Revolution in North America were light 
matters indeed when compared with what the colonies of 
the palm-lands suffered from three centuries of Spanish 
rule. The cause of Samuel Adams was a just one, but 
that of Bolivar was a necessity to the existence of any 
personal liberty. 

The motion that voiced the resolution of the Patriotic 
Society of July 4 was made in the Sovereign Congress of 
Venezuela, and was adopted. Venezuela had followed 
the example of Switzerland, of Holland, of the United 
States of North America, and was free. 

Jefferson's sublime preamble to the Declaration of In- 
dependence, beginning, " When in the course of human 



48 SOUTH AMERICA 

events," and declaring that " all men are created free and 
equal," is matched by the words with which the new dec- 
laration begins. We quote this powerful state paper in 
part, following the translation of Larrazabal: 

" In the name of the all-powerful God : 

" We, the representatives of the United Provinces of 
Caracas, Cumana, Varinas, Margarita, Barcelona, Merida 
and Truxillo, forming the American Federation of Ven- 
ezuela, in the south continent, in Congress assembled, 
considering the full and absolute possession of our rights, 
which we recovered justly and legally, from the 19th of 
April, 1 8 10, in consequence of the occurrences in Bayona, 
and the occupation of the Spanish throne by conquest, 
and the succession of a new dynasty, constituted without 
our consent, are desirous, before we make use of the 
rights of which we have been deprived by force for more 
than three ages, but now restored to us by the political 
order of human events, to make known to the world the 
reasons that have emanated from these same occurrences, 
and which authorize us to the free use we are about to 
make of our sovereignty. 

" We do not wish, nevertheless, to begin by alleging the 
rights, inherent in every conquered country, to recover its 
state of property and independence ; we generously for- 
get the long series of ills, injuries and privations, which 
the sad right of conquest has caused to all the descendants 
of the discoverers, conquerors and settlers of these coun- 
tries, plunged into a worse state by the very same cause 
that ought to have favored them ; and, drawing a veil over 
the three hundred years of Spanish domain in America, we 
will now only present to view the authentic and well-known 
facts which ought to have wrested from one world the right 
over the other, by the disorder and conquest that have 
already dissolved the Spanish nation. 



THE EVENT OF JULY 4 49 

" Always deaf to the cries of justice on our part, the 
governments of Spain have endeavored to discredit all our 
efforts, by declaring as criminal, and stamping with infamy, 
and rewarding with the scaffold and confiscation every 
attempt which, at different periods, some Americans have 
made for the felicity of their country ; as was that which 
lately our own security dictated to us, that we might not 
be drawn into a state of disorder which we foresaw, and 
hurried to that horrid fate which we are about to remove 
forever from before us. By means of atrocious policy, 
they have succeeded in making our brethren insensible to 
our misfortunes; in arming them against us; in erasing 
from their bosoms the sweet impressions of friendship, of 
consanguinity, and converting into enemies a part of our 
own great family. 

" At a time that we, faithful to our promise, were sac- 
rificing our security and civil dignity not to abandon the 
rights which we generously presented to Ferdinand of 
Bourbon, we have seen that, to the relations of force which 
bound him to the Emperor of the French, he has added 
the ties of blood and friendship, in consequence of which 
even the governments of Spain have already declared 
their resolution to acknowledge him conditionally. 

" In this mournful alternative, we have remained three 
years in a state of political indecision and ambiguity, so 
fatal and dangerous that this alone would suffice to au- 
thorize the resolution which the faith of our promises and 
bonds of fraternity had caused us to defer till necessity 
was obliged to go beyond what we at first proposed, im- 
pelled by the hostile and unnatural conduct of the govern- 
ments of Spain, which have disburdened us from our con- 
ditional oath, by which circumstance we are called to the 
august representation we now exercise. 

" But we, who glory in grounding our proceedings on 



50 SOUTH AMERICA 

better principles, and not wishing to establish our felicity 
on the misfortunes of our fellow-beings, do consider and 
declare as friends, companions of our fate, and participa- 
tors of our felicity, those who, united to us by the ties of 
blood, language and religion, have suffered the same evils 
in the anterior order of things, provided they acknowledge 
our absolute independence of the same, and of any other 
foreign power whatever; that they aid to sustain it with 
their lives, fortunes and sentiments ; declaring and ac- 
knowledging them (as well as any other nation), in war, 
enemies; in peace, friends, brothers and compatriots. 

" In consequence of all these solid, public and incontes- 
table reasons of policy, which so powerfully urge the ne- 
cessity of recovering our national dignity, restored to us by 
the order of events; and in compliance with the impre- 
scriptible rights enjoyed by nations to destroy every pact, 
agreement or association which does not answer the pur- 
pose for which governments were established, we believe 
that we cannot, and ought not, preserve the bonds which 
hitherto have kept us united to the governments of Spain ; 
and that, like all other nations of the world, we are free, 
and authorized not to depend on any other authority than 
our own, and to take among the powers of the earth the 
place of equality which the Supreme Being of nature as- 
signed to us, and to which we are called by the succession 
of human events, and urged by our own good and utility. 

" Notwithstanding we are aware of the difficulties that 
attend, and the obligations imposed upon us, by the rank 
we are about to take in the political order of the world, 
as well as the powerful influence of forms and habitudes to 
which unfortunately we have been accustomed, we, at the 
same time, know that shameful submission to them, when 
we can throw them off, would be still more ignominious to 
us, and more fatal to our posterity, than our long and 



THE EVENT OF JULY 4 5 1 

painful slavery ; and that it now becomes an indispensable 
duty to provide for our own preservation, security and 
felicity, by essentially varying all the forms of our former 
constitution. 

" In consequence whereof, considering, by the reasons 
thus alleged, that we have satisfied the respect which we 
owe to the opinion of the human race and the dignity of 
other nations, in the number of whom we are about to 
enter, and on whose communication and friendship we 
rely: 

" We, the representatives of the United Provinces of 
Venezuela, calling on the Supreme Being to witness the 
justice of our proceedings and the rectitude of our inten- 
tions, do implore his divine and celestial help ; and ratify- 
ing, at the moment in which we are born to the dignity 
which his providence restores to us, the desire we have 
of living and dying free, and of believing and defending 
the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Religion of Jesus Christ ; 
we, therefore, in the name and by the will and authority 
which we hold for the virtuous people of Venezuela, do 
declare solemnly to the world that its United Provinces 
are, and ought to be from this day, by act and right, 
free, sovereign and independent states; and that they are 
absolved from every submission and dependence on the 
throne of Spain, or on those who do or may call them- 
selves its agents and representatives ; and that a free and 
independent state, thus constituted, has full power to take 
that form of government which may be conformable to 
the general wish of the people; to declare war, make 
peace, form alliances, regulate treaties of commerce, limits 
and navigation, and to do and transact every act in like 
manner as other free and independent states. And that 
this our solemn declaration may be held valid, firm and 
durable, we hereby mutually bind each province to the 



52 SOUTH AMERICA 

other, and pledge our lives, fortunes, and the sacred tie of 
our national honor. 

" Done in the Federal Palace of Caracas, signed by our 
own hands, sealed with the Great Provincial Seal of the 
Confederation, and countersigned by the Secretary of 
Congress, this fifth day of July, 181 1, the first of our inde- 
pendence." 

On the same, the ever-memorable 5th of July, the Con- 
gress adopted the tricolor flag of Miranda as the emblem 
of the new liberty. 

The next day the sun of liberty rose on the Maritime 
Andes, and upon a people who had begun the emancipa- 
tion of the meridional world. 

The sublime words with which the first declaration of 
independence of a South American province opens and 
closes breathe the high patriotism of the Continental Con- 
gress of North America. They have a tone of reverence, 
a sense of the Divine Providence, and a faith in the Su- 
preme Ruler of the cause. They read like a prophet's 
inspiration. Only a sense of the grandeur and magni- 
tude of the event could have inspired them. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE EARTHQUAKE AT CARACAS— AN HEROIC EPISODE 
— MONTEVERDE— THE UNLOCKED DOOR— THE FAIL- 
URE OF MIRANDA 



T 



O use a figure in the Manifesto of Caracas, Venezuela 
had arisen , from the dust and cast off her chains. 
But the Sovereign Congress and its generals had to deal 
with an ignorant and superstitious people. Some of the 
priests were patriots, and had the spirit of the great 
Mexican emancipator Hidalgo ; but, as a rule, they followed 
the fortunes of the deposed monarch Ferdinand VII. 

The people, as previously stated, were superstitious. 
Of the danger lying in that direction young Bolivar re- 
ceived warning. " If any misfortune should suddenly 
fall upon the people, it would be attributed to God, 
as a judgment upon the people for proclaiming the 
independence," was the voice of apprehension. Bolivar 
felt its force. 

In beautiful Caracas all was prosperous and tranquil; 
there were no sickness, no calamities, no alarming revolts. 
The first days of freedom came and went in unexampled 
serenity. There was dissent as to what had been done; 
there were disturbances in one of the provinces ; but the 
new republic, as a whole, seemed starting out on a march 
of security, prosperity and peace. The patriots, notwith- 

53 



54 SOUTH AMERICA 

standing, felt the force of the warning, " If there should 
come a calamity ! " 

Venezuela now prepared a federal constitution, and as- 
signed to Miranda the command of her army. Thus he 
whom Bolivar, in his magnanimity, had induced to return 
to his native city of Caracas, and who had entered that 
city by Bolivar's side, amid the acclamations of the people, 
and found a place in his home, was now in a position to 
realize the dreams that had haunted his imagination for 
years. 

The constitution was a glorious document. It was de- 
voted to justice, to equal rights. It gave to man his 
birthright; to him who would make for himself a home 
and a name, a field of labor ; and to him who toiled, his 
dues. It sounded the call to welfare and wealth, to honor, 
and not titled vanity. Personal liberty was granted to all. 
The enjoyment of property was made universal. No one 
could be despoiled of the labors of his hands. Torture 
was abolished. The Holy Inquisition was suppressed. 
Titles of nobility were abrogated. The slave-trade was 
condemned. The new era was to begin in the brother- 
hood of man. 

At this time there arrived at Porto Rico an ambitious 
and cruel adventurer by the name of Domingo Monteverde, 
a native of Orotava in Teneriffe. He was a man of little 
education, a seeker after fame. He earnestly espoused 
the cause of Ferdinand VII. in America. He attained the 
position of field-marshal in the royal army. He landed 
in Venezuela, invaded Carora, and there defeated the 
patriots. He resolved to make himself the leader of the 
cause of Ferdinand VII. against the insurgent provinces. 

The first year of the independence was passing. It was 
spring in the Andes. The Easter festival was approach- 
ing, when the joyous bells would ring out. Holy Thurs- 



THE EARTHQUAKE AT CARACAS 55 

day, the 26th of March, arrived. There was a vaporous 
stillness in the air, on the earth, and over the sea. The 
sun shone as in a veil of shadow; the birds screamed in 
the air, and lifted their wings uneasily. The heat was in- 
tolerable. Noonday brought a calm that was oppressive, 
with a sky brilliant and transparent. Drops of rain fell, 
but there was no visible cloud in the sky. In the silence 
and fiery light something seemed to be impending. In 
the middle of the afternoon, despite the heat, and the 
strange drops of rain, and the oppressive atmosphere, the 
churches were thronged with people. Four o'clock was 
the vesper hour. The following day would be Good Fri- 
day ; it was almost the close of the penitential days of Lent. 
At seven minutes past four, when the solemn services in 
the church were beginning, the earth seemed to reel. 
There was a fearful crash, followed by a deep sound as of 
thunder. It came not from the sky, but from the caverns 
below. The people started up. What was happening? 
Where? They felt their feet unsteady. The earth was 
trembling, and in the tremor buildings were crumbling, 
melting away, as it were. Pillars and towers afforded no 
protection. They were not dashed down ; they crumbled. 

The people ran hither and thither, calling on Heaven 
for mercy. The beasts sought the caves. Birds screamed 
affrighted in the air. Many were buried beneath the ruins. 
Some ten thousand people perished. " Caracas," says 
Humboldt, "sleeps in her own grave." Not only Cara- 
cas crumbled and made a tomb for her people, but La 
Guayra, Merida and other towns were destroyed. The 
town of San Felipe totally disappeared. Its houses, public 
buildings and inhabitants were never seen again. 

The people who survived fled to the fields, and wan- 
dered about, lamenting and praying. No one knew who 
of his family or friends was left him. In a moment all 



56 SOUTH AMERICA 

had been changed. The people who fled looked up to 
the sky and down upon the heap that had been their 
beautiful city. 

Where was Simon Bolivar amid these terrible and ex- 
citing scenes? He was among the survivors. Did he 
recall the warning, " If any misfortune should happen " ? 
There are in all history few incidents more sublime than 
the conduct and the words of the fiery and undaunted 
patriot in the early evening of that dreadful day. 

We will describe the event in the words of Diaz, who 
was not friendly to Bolivar, and who misinterpreted his 
sublime and unparalleled exclamation. 

"To that inexplicable noise," says Diaz, "followed the 
silence of death. The groans of the dying arose from 
the Church of San Jacinto. I surmounted the ruins of the 
church, and entered the interior. On the highest spot I 
met Don Simon Bolivar. He was in his shirt-sleeves, en- 
gaged in the search for the living who could be rescued. 
Terror and desperation were depicted on his countenance. 
He recognized me, and addressed to me the following 
impious and extravagant words : ' If nature opposes her- 
self, we will wrestle with her, aitd compel her to obey.' " 

The words were neither " impious " nor " extravagant." 
They were the cry of a soul whose sense of justice the 
earthquake could not stifle. Bolivar knew that the earth- 
quake was but a natural event, and one that had no moral 
significance. 

While his soul thus rose in a grand exhibition of the 
omnipotence of spiritual power, the Plaza was wild with 
cries for mercy. Many of the priests took advantage of 
the horror of the hour. Believing as they did that Ferdi- 
nand VII. was the Lord's anointed, they believed the 
convulsion to be a manifestation of the divine displeasure 
against the events of the 4th and 5th of July of the year 




BOLIVAR AT THE EARTHQUAKE UK CARACAS. 



THE EARTHQUAKE AT CARACAS 57 

that had passed. The ignorant people, knowing not what 
to do or what to believe, were influenced by these priests. 
They began to lose faith in their leaders. The glory of 
the independence became a lost luster before Caracas had 
celebrated the first anniversary of her freedom. 

This was a dark hour for Miranda. Six hundred patriot 
soldiers had perished in the barracks at Caracas. Six 
hundred more, who were on their way to San Felipe, had 
been swallowed with the town. Twelve hundred patriots 
during a review at Barquisimeto, and two columns who 
were on the march, had disappeared from the sight of the 
sun. 

Monteverde perceived his opportunity and availed him- 
self of it. He had a triumphal march, bearing as he did 
the banner of Ferdinand. He swept nearly everything 
before him from Coro to Caracas. He took possession 
of Barquisimeto, where an ecclesiastic, by preaching from 
the ruins, had prepared the people for his coming. Monte - 
verde's army grew; his armaments increased. He was 
checked temporarily, but he entered San Carlos in triumph, 
and sacked the city. 

On April 4 another earthquake filled the country with 
new alarms. The royalists were strengthened by the 
terror it awakened. 

The government was now at La Victoria. Miranda, 
who had been made generalissimo, went to Caracas. He 
there met Bolivar, to whom he gave the order : " Go 
immediately to Puerto Cabello, and take command of the 
fortress." The fortress was a prison, and was filled with 
prisoners of war. Bolivar desired a different appoint- 
ment — one that would take him into the open field. He, 
however, obeyed the command. 

On May 1 Miranda marched out of the ruined city of 
Caracas against Monteverde, and entered upon a most dis- 



58 SOUTH AMERICA 

astrous campaign. He had under his command twelve 
thousand men. His antagonist was but an adventurer 
with a small force, but the people had lost heart through 
superstition. Public sentiment had turned in Monte- 
verde's favor. Miranda's troops began to lose faith in 
the cause. The general's heart became doubtful of final 
victory. He had only begun his march against the enemy 
when a sound as of battle was heard in the air. He 
ordered his army to halt. The sound proceeded from an 
eruption of the volcano San Vicente. The march was re- 
sumed, it seemed, under an evil star. His men began to 
desert him. A whole company of men under Pedro Ponce, 
a Spaniard, went over to the enemy. Depression of 
spirit fell upon Miranda. He lost faith in his soldiers. 
He lived in suspense. He knew not what to do. He 
ceased to advance ; he retreated. This retreat depressed 
still further the spirits of his followers. He took up 
quarters at Maracay, and announced that his campaign 
would henceforth be defensive. The declaration was dis- 
piriting. He had made for himself an army without hearts. 
In this state of mind he retreated to La Victoria. Here 
he was surprised by Monteverde, whom he repulsed. He 
did not follow up his advantage. This caused him to fall 
under the displeasure and criticism of his troops. 

At La Victoria Miranda received a message from Boli- 
var. " Puerto Cabello," it said, " is threatened, and there 
is no force here to defend it." But Miranda made no 
attempt to reinforce the fortress, which contained military 
stores. 

On the 30th of June a terrible disaster to the republican 
cause occurred at Puerto Cabello. A temporary com- 
mander of the prison set the prisoners at liberty, formed 
of them, with deserters, a force of royalists, and raised the 
Spanish flag. The fortress commanded the harbor and 



THE FAILURE OF MIRANDA 59 

the city. It turned its guns on both, and compelled both 
to surrender. 

Bolivar had but a small force now left to him. He at- 
tempted the defense of the city with forty men. Even 
these in part deserted him. The news came flying to 
the port that the victorious Monteverde was marching 
toward the city. There was nothing for Bolivar to do but 
to surrender or fly. He secured a brig, and sailed to La 
Guayra. This was on the 5th of July, just one year from 
the glorious day on which had been proclaimed to the 
world the independence of Venezuela. 

Miranda's nerves were now more unstrung than ever. 
Every one seemed to distrust him. In this time of dis- 
tress a new terror seized the people. An army of liber- 
ated slaves from the provinces was marching upon Caracas. 

In the thickening clouds of misfortunes — the earth- 
quake, the volcanic flames, the victories of Monteverde, 
the failure of the hearts of the soldiers, the loss of Puerto 
Cabello — there came to the shaken and irresolute Miranda 
one Don Antonio Fernandez de Leon, Marquis de Casa 
Leon, a reputed patriot from Caracas. " You see the 
situation of affairs," he said to Miranda — " shattered 
Caracas threatened with invasion, the fort of Puerto 
Cabello in the hands of the enemy, the people disheartened 
by the misfortunes of the earthquake. It is useless for us 
to oppose the royal arms. The time has come to end this 
war among brothers by an honorable peace." 

Peace ! It would bring to an end the achievements of 
the republic. It would bring Miranda under suspicion of 
treason. Miranda pondered. He hesitated. These min- 
utes were the turning-point of his life. Casa Leon followed 
up his advice. " As for you, I will supply you with the 
means of living in a foreign country." But what would life 
in any country be under the suspicions that would fall upon 



60 SOUTH AMERICA 

him after such a surrender? The old man remained 
thoughtful. The spell of his melancholy was evidently 
upon him. It was a spectacle pitiable to behold. " I will 
myself," said Casa Leon, " go to General Monteverde and 
arrange all the terms. You must decide at once ; the 
moments are flying." A great conflict was going on in 
Miranda's weakened mind. " I am willing," he said at 
last. Fatal words ! He never saw a happy moment again. 

Miranda seems to have looked upon Bolivar as a traitor 
for the loss of Puerto Cabello. Bolivar believed Miranda 
to be a traitor from the hour that he heard that Miranda 
had consented to make a treaty with Monteverde. Both 
were mistaken. It was now only a little more than a 
year and a half since the two, amid the vivas of the peo- 
ple, entered Caracas together (December, 1810). At that 
time they were ardent friends, the young man and the old. 

Monteverde wrote to Miranda, proffering terms of peace. 
Miranda sent the letter to Congress, then in session at 
La Victoria. Congress gave to Miranda the authority to 
treat with the Spanish general. As a result, a treaty was 
concluded July 29, 18 12, in which it was stipulated, among 
other things : " That the constitution presented by the 
Cortes to the Spaniards should be accepted by Venezuela. 
That no person should be prosecuted for his political 
opinions." 

Thus the republic was for the time destroyed, and Cara- 
cas, the theater of thrilling events, fell again under the 
domain of Spain. 

On July 30, 18 12, Miranda arrived at La Guayra, a 
fallen man. He was criticized by all the patriots. He 
was as one who had shattered the fabrics of his visions 
with his own hands. He found at La Guayra a company 
of patriots, and among them Simon Bolivar. The question 
arose among these patriots, Would it not be for the inter- 



THE FAILURE OF MIRANDA 6 1 

est of the new treaty to hold Miranda here ? The old man 
arrived in the afternoon, fatigued by the intense heat. The 
ship was waiting for him. The patriots invited him to stay 
to supper, and to remain on shore overnight. " No," said 
the captain of the ship to Miranda ; " it is for your interest 
to go on board to-night." "You are too tired to go on 
board the vessel now. The land-breeze will not arise until 
morning," said the patriots. " I will spend the night on 
shore," said Miranda, whose wits seem to have gone. The 
captain of the ship shook his head. The supper was pre- 
pared. At the table sat Bolivar, with other patriotic 
leaders, among them Colonel Manuel Maria Casas, the 
military commandant, at whose house he was entertained. 

In the house was a closet that could not be locked. 
Colonel Casas ordered that a bed be prepared for the old 
man in that closet. Miranda retired early. The patriots 
sat down to consider the consequence to the treaty should 
they allow him to depart. They decided that it would be 
for the interest of the country to arrest him. General 
H. L. v. Ducoudray-Holstein, who was an enemy to Boli- 
var, thus describes the pitiable scene of the early morning, 
in the closet that could not be locked : 

" Miranda was arrested in the following manner. Hav- 
ing ascertained that the general was sound asleep, the 
three leaders, after a short consultation, determined to 
seize him that night, and give him up to the Spanish com- 
mandant Monteverde. Casas, as military commandant at 
La Guayra, ordered a strong detachment from the principal 
guard. This detachment he commanded to surround his 
own house in perfect silence, to suffer no one to pass, and 
to kill any one who attempted to escape. Not a word 
was said of Miranda. When all was ready, Pena, Casas 
and Bolivar, at two o'clock in the morning, with four 
armed soldiers, entered the unlocked room of General 



62 SOUTH AMERICA 

Miranda. He was in a profound sleep. They seized his 
sword and pistols, which he had placed before him. They 
then awakened him, and abruptly told him to rise and 
dress quickly, and follow them. Miranda, in surprise, 
asked them why they awakened him at such an early 
hour, it being not yet daylight. Instead of answering the 
question, they told him he was a traitor, who deserved to 
be hanged. 

" Miranda, unable to resist, dressed himself, and was 
forced to follow. They escorted him to the fort called San 
Carlos, at some distance from La Guayra, and situated upon 
a strong hill, where he arrived, exhausted from fatigue 
and chagrin. Having borne all the invectives they chose 
to load him with on the road, which he was obliged to 
walk, as soon as they were come to the fort they ordered 
him to be put in irons, and notwithstanding his pathetic 
and fervent expostulations, he was locked in one of the 
darkest dungeons, and treated like the vilest criminal. 

"The three chiefs returned, with their guard, to La Guayra, 
and the same night despatched an express with a letter 
to the Spanish general Monteverde, informing him of the 
arrest of Miranda. This commander was surprised at the 
intelligence. Instead of ordering the immediate release 
of Miranda, and so preserving inviolate the faith of his own 
treaty, he received the news with his accustomed indiffer- 
ence and apathy, and took no step in favor of Miranda, or 
against him. 

"The day after Miranda's arrest, a Spanish column arrived 
in the fort of San Carlos, to relieve the independents. 
Its commander was surprised to find Miranda in irons, and 
sent him immediately, with an escort, back to La Guayra, 
where he was again shut up in a dark, mephitic prison 
in one of the walls of this place, where he remained in 
irons during several months. The Spanish commandant 



THE FAILURE OF MIRANDA 63 

Don Francisco Xavier Cerveres, who had relieved the 
patriot commander Casas, gave orders to send Miranda 
back to Porto Rico. He was thence transported to Cadiz, 
where he remained in irons, in the fort of La Caraca, for 
some years, and perished. 

" Such was the miserable end of General Miranda. 
Without entering into any political controversy, without 
inquiring whether Miranda was a traitor to his country 
(which well-informed men affirm not to have been the 
case), history will demand what right Dr. Miguel Pena, 
Don Maria Casas and Simon Bolivar had to arrest their 
former chief and superior. That they did so without 
order, information or participation of the Spanish gen- 
eral-in-chief Domingo Monteverde, is an undoubted fact." 

Larrazabal thus describes Miranda's arrest: 

" Bolivar was at La Guayra when the generalissimo 
arrived at that port. It was about seven o'clock of the 
evening of the 30th of July. 

" Afterward many of the officers arrived, flying from 
the persecution they justly feared; and it was divulged 
(which unfortunately was true) that Miranda had con- 
cealed his voyage, and that, in Caracas, he had told them 
that they could retire to their homes, abandoning them 
to the most cruel suspense. The irregularity and uncer- 
tainty with which the capitulation was passed through, 
the confused dissolution of the army, and the ignorance 
of the terms of the agreement, gave sufficient ground to 
judge wrongly of the acts of the dictator, and to make 
them suspicious of him ; and the exaltation of their minds 
counseled them toward taking the violent measures which 
their mutual unhappy fate justified. 

" Immediately after the arrival of the generalissimo at 
La Guayra, Captain Haynes came on land. Miranda, 
wearied by his fatigues and the heat of the day, was 



64 SOUTH AMERICA 

reposing. Afterward he seated himself at the table, being 
present Manuel Maria Casas, military commander, who 
had accompanied him, the Dr. Miguel Pena, civil and 
political governor, the Dr. Pedro Gual, and others. 
While at the table, it was talked of that Miranda should 
remain on the land for that night, it being too late already 
for him to embark. Haynes insisted, saying that on board 
the commodities were plentiful enough for the general. 
Notwithstanding this, as nothing needed such a ridiculous 
precipitation, Miranda consented to remain until the follow- 
ing morning. Haynes left, visibly disgusted. 

" That same night secretly assembled the Dr. Miguel 
Pena, Manuel Maria Casas, the Colonels Simon Bolivar, 
Juan Paz del Castillo, Jose Mires and Jose Cortes; the 
Commandants Tomas Montilla, Rafael Chatillon, Miguel 
Carabano, Rafael Castillo, Jose Landaeta, who com- 
manded the garrison, and Juan Jose Valdez, sergeant- 
major of the Plaza. They spoke of the conduct of the 
generalissimo, who was remiss in his duties, abandoning 
the defense of his country when all predicted victory ; that 
he had submitted them shamefully to the chains and re- 
venge of Spain. They blamed his conduct, and resented 
the insulting replies which at table he had given to the 
Dr. Gual and to the Colonel Castillo, when, in a friendly 
manner, they asked explanations upon the treaty of capit- 
ulation. ... It is unnecessary to say that Bolivar sur- 
passed them all in his warmth, because he who had 
spoken to the Minister Wellesley of independence in 1810, 
and who in Rome, in advance of all purposes and hopes, 
swore for it on the Monte Sacro in 1805, could ill brook 
the disastrous idea of a new slavery. 

" Indignant, then, at the treasons (as they named them) 
of Miranda, they deliberated to detain him, because they 
judged that, once on board, he would not ratify the 



THE FAILURE OF MIRANDA 65 

capitulation, leaving the patriots strongly compromised, 
and the only hope of a less unhappy fate disappearing. 
They wished to oblige him to sanction with his signature 
that important document, which was the safeguard of 
their lives and property. The pressure of the moment, in 
an affair of such transcendental importance, did not permit 
them to reflect clearly and calmly, because, if Miranda had 
not ratified the agreement, of what value was the signa- 
ture of Miranda to Monteverde, being given in a prison, 
where he was placed by his own friends and subordinates ? 
This consideration was evident; but they were irritated, 
and did not understand anything within the limits of 
reason. ... It was all, at the time, surprise and conster- 
nation. At the bottom of all these were errors, incon- 
sistencies, abandon. With Bolivar, Montilla and their 
ardent companions, all was passion. Passion dictated 
their resolutions. 

" ' Male cuncta ministrat 
Impetus.' 

(Statius, Thebaid, x.) 

" For the execution of that project, which should result 
so lamentably, without contributing in any manner to the 
bettering of the country, the services were combined as 
follows : Casas (in whose house was accommodated the 
old man, sleeping in an unlocked room) should place him- 
self at the head of the troops in the castle of Colorado ; 
Valdez should surround the house in which Miranda slept 
with a body of men; Bolivar, Chatillon and Montilla 
should take possession of his person, either willingly or by 
force ; Mires was to receive and guard him in the castillo. 
All was executed as was disposed ; and at three o'clock 
in the morning of the 31st of July, Miranda was a prisoner. 

" He was plunged in a profound sleep when he was 



66 SOUTH AMERICA 

awakened by those charged to capture him. ' Is it not 
too early ? ' he inquired, thinking that he was called up to 
embark. His astonishment was unspeakable when he 
found he was a prisoner. Thoughtful and resigned, he 
silently followed his conductors, without proffering any 
complaint or resistance." 

Unhappy Miranda! The rest of his life was passed in 
dungeons, prisons and chains. They took him to Puerto 
Cabello, thence to Porto Rico, and thence to Cadiz, Spain. 

" I have seen the nobleman," said a British officer, " tied 
to a wall, with a chain about his neck, neither more nor 
less than a dog." 

Death came to relieve him of his melancholy and 
miseries on the morning of July 14, 18 16. He was not 
a traitor; he was a man who failed to fulfil his ideals. 
Amid the hurry of events he had been misjudged, and 
amid the same swiftly shifting scenes Bolivar himself had 
sought to act for the good of the whole people. 

Had Miranda, with his twelve thousand patriots, marched 
directly against the small forces of the adventurer Monte- 
verde, he could have destroyed them and made the re- 
public secure. He could easily have cut off the Spanish 
general from retreat. But he took the wrong steps at the 
critical moment. He hesitated, when decision would have 
been victory. Had he gone on board the ship at La Guayra 
his end might have been less tragic. There are men who 
lose inspiration and faith in the hour of the opportunity 
that they themselves have made, and this seems to have 
been the case with Miranda. 

But the good that men have done is a harvest that can 
never be forgotten. Truly said Simon Bolivar, years after- 
ward, in his hour of triumph : " The seed of liberty yields 
its just fruit. If there is anything which is never lost, it is 
the blood which is shed for a just cause." We cannot be- 
lieve Bolivar to have been insincere when he said this, or 



THE FAILURE OF MIRANDA 6j 

when, in the following words, he revealed the motives 
which governed him : " My only ambition is the freedom 
of my fellow-citizens. My love of the independence of 
South America has caused me to make different sacri- 
fices, sometimes in peace, sometimes in war. I shall never 
refuse these sacrifices, because he who abandons all to 
be useful to his country loses nothing, but gains all he 
consecrates." 

In his day Bolivar was South America. His heart, 
thoughts and deeds were her pulse-beat and her destiny. 
In order that the reader may follow in detail the events 
of his life, I give a resume of them : 

The oath at Monte Sacro, Rome, 1805. 

Visits the United States, 1809. 

Joins the revolutionary movement, 18 10. 

Goes to England to purchase arms. 
1 Returns, 181 1. 

Advocates the independence of Venezuela, 181 1. 

Enters the services, on the staff of General Miranda, 181 1. 

Arrests Miranda, 18 12. 

Goes to Curacao as a refugee. 

Enlists refugees at Cartagena, accompanied by Manuel 
Castillo. 

Rekindles the revolution in Venezuela. 

Commissioned as general by New Granada. 

Issues his proclamation of gnerra a mnerte, 18 13. 

Enters Caracas in a car of triumph drawn by the daugh- 
ters of the nobles, 18 14. 

Defeated at Boves. 

Escapes to Cumana. 

Lays siege to Cartagena. 

Flees from the country. 

Goes to Kingston. 

Escapes assassination there. 

Gathers a force at Port au Prince. 



68 SOUTH AMERICA 

Secures four negro battalions from President Petion. 

Returns to the islands of the coast. 

Is appointed commander-in-chief of the forces of New- 
Granada. 

Emancipates the slaves by proclamation, June I, 1816. 

Is defeated at Ocumare. 

Is again supplied with arms by the President of Haytl 

Defeats Morillo, February 16, 181 7. 

Condemns the negro general Piar to death for treason. 

Gathers an army of nine thousand men. 

Goes to Angostura. 

Meets Santander of New Granada, who advises a NeW 
Granada campaign. 

Organizes a congress at Angostura. 

Gathers an army of fourteen thousand men. 

Crosses the Cordilleras. 

Gains the victory of Boyaca, August 7, 18 19. 

Returns victorious to Venezuela. 

Proclaims the Republic of Colombia, December 17, 18 19. 

Gains the decisive victory of Carabobo, June 24, 1821. 

Elected President of Colombia, 1821. 

Determines to liberate all South America. 

Wins the battle of Pichincha, through the aid of Sucre. 

Enters Quito, June, 1822. 

In response to San Martin he marches to Peru. 

Gains the victory of Ayacucho, Peru, December 9, 1824. 

Declared Protector of Peru. 

Escapes assassination at Bogota, September 25, 1828. 

Condemned for ambitious designs by the Congress of 
Caracas, November 25, 1829. 

Sends his final resignation as President to Congress, 
April 27, 1830. 

Goes into exile. 

Dies December 17, 1830. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COLONIAL SYSTEM— WHAT LATIN AMERICA SUF- 
FERED — THE SPANISH VICEROYALTIES— THE MANI- 
FESTO OF ARGENTINA— THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS 
FROM SPAIN— THE PERSECUTIONS OF THE NATIVE 
AMERICAN RACES— CUBA— THE CREOLES 

TO enter into the spirit of the story of liberty in the 
Andean republics and in Cuba, one must have a view 
of the causes of the struggles for emancipation. The his- 
tory of these struggles may be summed up in the words 
of Voltaire: " Cruelty leads to independence." 

The colonial system of Spain in South and Central 
America and on the Spanish Main was one of selfishness, 
cruelty and tyranny. Only Spaniards were allowed to 
trade with the Spanish colonial ports. Hence arose buc- 
caneers and pirates to claim the rights of the sea. For a 
long period ships engaged in trade with those ports were 
allowed to sail only from Cadiz. A company of Spanish 
merchants and grandees, organized under the name of the 
Philippine Company, once purchased of the government 
the sole right to trade with the Indies and to govern the 
trade. The viceroy himself could not interfere with its 
rights. The company compelled the colonists to sell to it 
the products of the country at its own price, and it reaped 
a profit of three hundred per cent. To oppose in any 
form this tyranny of the sea was death. 

69 



70 SOUTH AMERICA 

The colonial system did not recognize local human 
rights. Under it it was treason for a man to assert his 
freedom or to seek the free field of nature for his labor. 
The earth existed for the Spanish throne. 

The mita was a cause of the darkest crimes in the long 
period of the viceroys. Those who sought to escape 
from hard labor as slaves of the system were tortured most 
cruelly. By the mita, free people, usually Indians, were 
compelled to labor for the state in the mines, or in any 
work of public profit or improvement. In the beginning 
this involuntary servitude was not wholly without com- 
pensation. It was under the mita that the native races 
were diminished in numbers and almost disappeared in 
many parts of the viceroyalties, notably so in parts of Peru. 

From this system of tyranny the native Indian and the 
poor Creole could only appeal to those who would at once 
regard them with suspicion, or to arms. For generations 
they struggled against their fate, only to be crushed, tor- 
tured and slain. The local government, the church, ex- 
cept a few patriot priests of eternal honor, and the Spanish 
throne were against them. 

Education was denied. Instead of a beneficent system 
of free instruction, such as Pestalozzi gave to Switzerland 
and Prussia, the young were trained by the bull-fight. 
The trumpet-call of the old Moorish brutality, and not the 
school-bell, echoed from the Andes. The plaza del toro 
was the agora and the school-room of object-lessons. The 
picadors and the matadors were the heroes of the day. 

Take the educational condition of Porto Rico, one of 
the fairest of the Antilles. The island has a population 
of 480,267 white people, 248,690 of mixed races, and 
77,751 negroes. The taxes of these poor people for a 
recent tax year were $4,374,874. Much of this money 
goes toward the support of high-salaried foreign officials, 



THE MANIFESTO OF ARGENTINA 7 1 

who live in luxury. The number of officers living upon 
the Porto Ricans is about 35,000. Yet out of 480,267 
white inhabitants, only 96,867 could read and write. 

Go to Quito, which under the Incas rose into such splen- 
dor and freedom that its history reads like an Oriental 
dream. Its empire swept from the fiery arch of the equator 
to the silver desert of Atacama, Within its mountain walls, 
with their crystal peaks, rose palaces gleaming with the 
gems of the Esmeraldas and the earth-covered treasures of 
the Andes. The people were happy and free. The Sun 
was their father in this world, and in the next their souls 
would ascend to the Incas, who dwelt with the Ineffable. 
Spain, with her mita, made a Sahara of this land. Her 
laws forbade every right and privilege that did not yield 
a revenue to a throne thousands of miles away. The 
colonist planted, but not for himself; he reaped, but the 
harvest was not his. If he murmured, he was answered 
by the lash. To have an opinion of his own was treason. 
To assert his birthright of liberty was death. 

But what was the compensation to the world for this 
system of slavery? Go ask the dons at the bull- fights. 
Churches, indeed, arose where ancient temples fell, but 
the spirit of the Mount of Beatitudes was almost as much 
absent from them as from the altars of Persepolis, Babylon, 
Nineveh. Good priests, indeed, there were, by whom 
truth was preached ; but those who raised their voices for 
humanity fell under the tyrannous insanity that too often 
follows material success. The land became a slave-pen, 
and tyranny triumphed. 

Go to San Carlos after the victory of Carabobo. The 
Spanish general Calzada, as soon as he had taken posses- 
sion of the beautiful town, caused more than two hun- 
dred persons to be murdered, sparing neither the aged nor 
the infants. A patriotic priest of San Carlos, named Carlos 



72 SOUTH AMERICA 

Quintana, was seized. His ears were cut off; he was 
flayed alive, and his own bleeding skin was held up before 
his dying eyes ; he was then beheaded. The village was 
reduced to ashes. 

Go to Cartagena, that old city with yellow walls, slum- 
bering in the dreamy days, by the listless harbor of the 
purple sea. The walls sixty feet thick, into which went 
the unrequited toil of a generation of slaves; the sunken 
sea-walls that stayed the invader ; the castle-like monas- 
teries and convents on the hills, where the golden lamps 
light the shadows of solitudes; the old broken church, 
with a torture-bed of the Inquisition still used as a grating 
for one of its lower windows — all reveal the soul of a 
system that is dead. The surrounding country, with its 
cool palm-gardens and its always blooming flowers, is one 
of the most beautiful in all the world, but there ignorance 
wanders in rags. 

One may think that history exaggerates such scenes of 
injustice and cruelty, and their withering influences. Read 
the manifesto addressed to all the nations of the earth by 
the Constituent Congress of the United Provinces of South 
America, respecting the treatment and cruelties they re- 
ceived from the Spaniards. It was the precursor of the 
Argentine Declaration of Independence, which was issued 
from Buenos Ay res on October 25, 181 7. Never was 
there such an arraignment of any civilized nation as that 
of this manifesto. Every fact it mentions is abundantly 
verified and is absolutely true. 

MANIFESTO 

" Addressed to all Nations of the Earth by the General 
Constituent Congress of the United Provinces of South 
America, respecting the treatment and cruelties they have 



THE MANIFESTO OF ARGENTINA 73 

experienced from the Spaniards, and which have given 
rise to the Declaration of Independence. 

" Honor is a distinction which mortals esteem more 
than their own existence, and they are bound to defend 
it above all earthly benefits, however great and sublime 
they may be. The United Provinces of the river Plata 
have been accused by the Spanish government, before 
other nations, of rebellion and perfidy ; and as such, also, 
has been denounced the memorable Act of Emancipation, 
proclaimed by the National Congress in Tucuman on July 
9, 1 8 16, by imputing to it ideas of anarchy, and a wish to 
introduce into other countries seditious principles, at the 
very time the said provinces were soliciting the friendship 
of these same nations, and the acknowledgment of this 
memorable act, for the purpose of forming one among 
them. The first and among the most sacred of the duties 
imposed on the National Congress is to wipe away so 
foul a stigma, and defend the cause of their country, by 
displaying the cruelties and motives which led them to the 
Declaration of Independence. This, indeed, is not to be 
considered as an act of submission, which may attribute 
to any other nation of the earth the power of disposing of 
a fate which has already cost America torrents of blood 
and all kinds of sacrifices and bitter privations ; it is rather 
an important consideration we owe to our outraged honor, 
and the decorum due to other nations. 

" We waive all investigations respecting the rights of 
conquest, papal grants, and other titles on which Spaniards 
have usually founded and upheld their dominion. We do 
not seek to recur to principles which might give rise to 
problematical discussions, and revive points of argument 
which have had defenders on both sides. We appeal to 
facts, which form a painful contrast to our forbearance 
with the oppression and cruelty of Spaniards. We will 



74 SOUTH AMERICA 

exhibit a frightful abyss which Spain was opening under 
our feet, and into which these provinces were about to be 
precipitated, if they had not interposed the safeguard of 
their own emancipation. We will, in short, exhibit reasons 
which no rational man can disregard, unless he could find 
sufficient pleas to persuade a country forever to renounce 
all idea of its own felicity, and, in preference, adopt a 
system of ruin, opprobrium and forbearance. Let us 
place before the eyes of the world this picture, one which 
it will be impossible to behold without being profoundly 
moved by the same sentiments as those by which we are 
ourselves actuated. 

" From the moment when the Spaniards possessed 
themselves of these countries, they preferred the system 
of securing their dominion by extermination, destruction 
and degradation. The plans of this extensive mischief 
were forthwith carried into effect, and have been continued 
without any intermission during the space of three hun- 
dred years. They began by assassinating the monarchs 
of Peru, and they afterward did the same with the other 
chieftains and distinguished men who came in their way. 
The inhabitants of the country, anxious to restrain such 
ferocious intrusion, under the great disadvantage of their 
arms became the victims of fire and sword, and were 
compelled to leave their settlements a prey to the devour- 
ing flames, which were everywhere applied without pity 
or distinction. 

" The Spaniards then placed a barrier to the population 
of the country. They prohibited, under laws the most 
rigorous, the ingress of foreigners, and in every possible 
respect limited that of even Spaniards themselves, although 
in times more recent the emigration of criminal and im- 
moral men, outcasts, was encouraged, of men such as it 
was expedient to expel from the Peninsula. Neither our 



THE MANIFESTO OF ARGENTINA 75 

vast though beautiful deserts, formed by the extermina- 
tion of the natives; the advantages Spain would have 
derived from the cultivation of regions as immense as they 
are fertile ; the incitement of mines, the richest and most 
abundant on earth; the stimulus of innumerable produc- 
tions, partly till then unknown, but all estimable for their 
value and variety, and capable of encouraging and carry- 
ing agriculture and commerce to their highest pitch of 
opulence; in short, not even the wanton wickedness of 
retaining these choice countries plunged into the most 
abject misery, were any of them motives sufficiently 
powerful to change the dark and inauspicious principles 
of the cabinet of Madrid. Hundreds of leagues do we 
still behold, unsettled and uncultivated, in the space in- 
tervening from one city to another. Entire towns have, 
in some places, disappeared, either buried in the ruins of 
mines, or their inhabitants destroyed by the compulsive 
and poisonous labor of working them ; nor have the cries 
of all Peru, nor the energetic remonstrances of the most 
zealous ministers, been capable of reforming this exter- 
minating system of forced labor, carried on within the 
bowels of the earth. 

" The art of working the mines, among us beheld with 
apathy and neglect, has been unattended with those im- 
provements which have distinguished the enlightened age 
in which we live, and diminished the attendant casualties; 
hence opulent mines, worked in the most clumsy and 
improvident manner, have sunk in and been overwhelmed, 
either through the undermining of the mineral ridges, or 
the rush of waters which have totally inundated them. 
Other rare and estimable productions of the country are 
still confounded with nature and neglected by the govern- 
ment, and if, among us, any enlightened observer has 
attempted to point out their advantages, he has been 



y6 SOUTH AMERICA 

reprehended by the court, and forced to silence, owing to 
the competition that might arise to a few artisans of the 
mother-country. 

" The teaching of science was forbidden us, and we were 
allowed to study only the Latin grammar, ancient philos- 
ophy, theology, civil and canonical jurisprudence. Vice- 
roy Joaquin del Pino took the greatest umbrage at the 
Buenos Ayres Board of Trade because it presumed to 
bear the expenses of a nautical school. In compliance 
with the orders transmitted from court, it was closed. 
An injunction, besides, was laid upon us that our youths 
should not be sent to Paris to become professors of chem- 
istry, with a view of teaching this science among their own 
countrymen. 

" Commerce has at all times been an exclusive monopoly 
in the hands of the traders of Spain and the consignees 
they sent over to America. The public offices were re- 
served for Spaniards, and notwithstanding, by the laws, 
these were equally open to Americans, we seldom attained 
them, and when we did, it was by satiating the avarice 
of the court through the sacrifice of immense treasures. 
Among one hundred and sixty viceroys who have governed 
in America, four natives of the country alone are num- 
bered ; and of six hundred and two captains-general and 
governors, with the exception of fourteen, all have been 
Spaniards. The same proportionally happened in the 
other offices of importance. Scarcely, indeed, had the 
Americans an opportunity of alternating with Spaniards 
in situations the most subaltern. 

" Everything was so arranged by Spain that the degra- 
dation of the natives should prevail in America. It did 
not enter into her views that wise men should be formed, 
fearful that minds and talents would be created capable 
of promoting the interests of their country, and causing 



THE MANIFESTO OF ARGENTINA 7 J 

civilization, manners, and those excellent capabilities with 
which the Colombian children are gifted, to make a rapid 
progress. She unceasingly diminished our population, 
apprehensive that some day or other it might be in a state 
to rise against a dominion sustained only by a few hands 
to whom the keeping of detached and extensive regions 
was intrusted. She carried on an exclusive trade because 
she supposed opulence would make us proud and inclined 
to free ourselves from outrage. She denied to us the 
advancement of industry in order that we might be 
divested of the means of rising out of misery and poverty ; 
and we were excluded from offices of trust in order that 
Peninsulars only might hold influence in the country, and 
form the necessary habits and inclinations, with a view of 
leaving us in such a state of dependence as to be unable 
to think or act, unless according to Spanish forms. 

" Such was the system firmly and steadily upheld by 
the viceroys, each one of whom bore the state and arro- 
gance of a vizier. Their power was sufficient to crush any 
one who had the misfortune to displease them. However 
great their outrages, they were to be borne with resigna- 
tion, for by their satellites and flatterers their frown was 
superstitiously compared to the anger of God. Com- 
plaints addressed to the throne were either lost in the 
extended interval of those thousands of leagues it was 
necessary to cross, or buried in the offices at home by 
the relatives or patrons of men wielding viceregal power. 
This system, so far from having been softened, has been 
strengthened, so that all hopes that even time would pro- 
duce this effect were totally lost. We held neither direct 
nor indirect influence in our own legislation ; this was 
instituted in Spain. Nor were we allowed the right of 
sending over persons who might point out what was fit 
and suitable, empowered to assist at its enactment, as the 



78 SOUTH AMERICA 

cities of Spain were authorized to do. Neither had we 
any influence over the administration of government, 
which might, in some measure, have tempered the rigor 
of such laws as were in force. We were aware that no 
other resource was left to us than patience, and that for 
him who was not resigned to endure all, even capital 
punishment was not sufficient, since, for cases of this kind, 
torments new and of unheard-of cruelty had been invented, 
such as made nature shudder. 

" Neither so great nor so repeated were the hardships 
which roused the provinces of Holland when they took 
up arms to free themselves from the yoke of Spain, nor 
those of Portugal to effect the same purpose. Less were 
the hardships which placed the Swiss under the direction 
of William Tell, and in open opposition to the German 
emperor; less those which determined the United States 
of North America to resist the imposts forced upon them 
by a British king; less, in short, the powerful motives 
which have urged other countries, not separated by nature 
from the parent state, to cast off an iron yoke and consult 
their own felicity." 

Of the conduct of Spain toward her colonies, on the 
return of Ferdinand to the throne, this manifesto gives 
the following description : 

" Posterity will be astonished at the ferocity exercised 
against us by men interested in the preservation of Spanish 
power in America ; and that rashness and folly with which 
they have sought to punish demonstrations the most evi- 
dent of fidelity and love, will ever be matter of the greatest 
surprise. The name of Ferdinand de Bourbon preceded 
all the decrees of our government, and was at the head of 
all its public acts. The Spanish flag waved on our vessels 



THE MANIFESTO OF ARGENTINA 79 

and served to animate our soldiers. The provinces, seeing 
themselves in a bereft state through the overthrow of the 
national government, owing to the want of another legiti- 
mate and respectable one substituted in its stead, and the 
conquest of nearly the whole of the mother-country, raised 
up a watch-tower, as it were, within themselves, to attend 
to their own security and self-preservation, reserving them- 
selves for the captive monarch, in case he recovered his 
freedom. This measure was in imitation of the public 
conduct of Spain, and called forth by the declaration made 
to America that she was an integral part of the monarchy, 
and in rights equal with the former ; and it had, moreover, 
been resorted to in Montevideo, through the advice of the 
Spaniards themselves. We offered to continue pecuniary 
succors and voluntary donations in order to prosecute the 
war, and we a thousand times published the soundness of 
our intentions and the sincerity of our wishes. Great 
Britain, at that time so well deserving of Spain, interposed 
her mediation and good offices in order that we might not 
be treated in so harsh and cruel a manner. But the 
Spanish ministers, blinded by their sanguinary caprice, 
spurned the mediation, and issued rigorous orders to all 
their generals to push the war, and to inflict heavier punish- 
ments. On every side scaffolds were raised, and recourse 
was had to every invention for spreading consternation 
and dismay. 

" From that moment they endeavored to divide us by 
all the means in their power, in order that we might ex- 
terminate each other. They propagated against us atro- 
cious calumnies, attributing to us the design of destroying 
our sacred religion, of setting aside all morality, and estab- 
lishing licentiousness of manners. They carried on a war 
of religion against us, devising many and various plots to 
agitate and alarm the consciences of the people, by causing 



80 SOUTH AMERICA 

the Spanish bishops to issue edicts of ecclesiastical censure 
and interdiction among the faithful, to publish excommu- 
nications, and, by means of some ignorant confessors, to 
sow fanatical doctrines in the tribunal of penance. By 
the aid of such religious discords, they have sown dis- 
sension in families, produced quarrels between parents and 
their children, torn asunder the bonds which united man 
and wife, scattered implacable enmity and rancor among 
brothers formerly the most affectionate, and even placed 
nature herself in a state of hostility and variance. 

" They have adopted the system of killing men indis- 
criminately, in order to diminish our numbers. On their 
entry into towns, they have seized non-combatants, hur- 
ried them in groups to the squares, and there shot them 
one by one. The cities of Chuquisaca* and Cochabamba 
have more than once been the theaters of these ferocious 
acts. 

" They have mixed our captive prisoners among their 
own troops, carrying off our officers in irons to secluded 
dungeons, where, during the period of a year, it was im- 
possible for them to retain their health. Others they have 
left to die of hunger and misery in the prisons, and many 
they have compelled to toil in public works. In a boast- 
ing manner they have shot the bearers of our flags of 
truce, and committed the basest horrors upon military 
chiefs and other principal persons who had already sur- 
rendered themselves, notwithstanding the humanity we 
have always displayed toward prisoners taken from them. 
In proof of this assertion, we can quote the cases of Deputy 
Matos from Potosf, Captain-General Pumacagua, General 
Angulo and his brother, Commandant Munecas, and other 
leaders, shot in cold blood many days after they had been 
made prisoners. 

" In the town of Valle- Grande they enjoyed the brutal 



THE MANIFESTO OF ARGENTINA 8 1 

pleasure of cutting off the ears of the inhabitants, and 
sent off a basket filled with these presents to their head- 
quarters. They afterward burned the town, set fire to 
thirty other populous ones belonging to Peru, and took 
delight in shutting up persons in their own houses before 
the flames were applied to them, in order that they might 
there be burned to death. 

"They have not only been cruel and implacable in 
murdering, but they have also divested themselves of all 
morality and public decency, by whipping old religious 
persons in the open squares, and also women, bound to a 
cannon, causing them previously to be stripped and ex- 
posed to shame and derision. 

" For all these kinds of punishments they established an 
inquisitorial system. They have seized the persons of 
several peaceable citizens and conveyed them beyond seas, 
there to be judged for supposed crimes. Many they have 
sent to execution without any form of trial whatever. 

" They have destroyed our vessels, plundered our 
coasts, butchered their defenseless inhabitants, without 
even sparing superannuated priests ; and, by order of 
General Pezuela, they burned the- church belonging to 
the town of Puna, and put to the sword old men, women 
and children, the only inhabitants therein found. They 
have excited atrocious conspiracies among the Spaniards 
domiciliated in our cities, and forced us into the painful 
alternative of imposing capital punishment on the fathers 
of numerous families. 

"They have compelled our brethren and children to 
take up arms against us, and, forming armies out of the 
inhabitants of the country, under the command of their 
own officers, they have forced them into battle with our 
troops. They have stirred up domestic plots and con- 
spiracies, by corrupting with money, and by means of all 



82 SOUTH AMERICA 

kinds of machinations, the peaceful inhabitants of the 
country, in order to involve us in dreadful anarchy, and 
then to attack us in a weak and divided state. 

" In a most shameful and infamous manner they have 
failed to fulfil every capitulation we have, on repeated 
occasions, concluded with them, even at a time when we 
have had them under our own swords. They caused four 
thousand men, after they had surrendered, again to take 
up arms, together with General Tristan, at the action of 
Salta, to whom General Belgrano generously granted 
terms of capitulation on the field of battle, and more 
generously complied with them, trusting to their word 
and honor. 

" They have invented a new species of horrid warfare, 
by poisoning the waters and aliments, as they did when 
conquered in La Paz by General Pinelo ; and in return for 
the kind manner in which the latter treated them, after 
surrendering at discretion, they resorted to the barbarous 
stratagem of blowing up the soldiers' quarters, which they 
had previously undermined. They have had the baseness 
to tamper with our generals and governors, by availing 
themselves of and abusing the sacred privilege of flags of 
truce, exciting them to act traitorously toward us, for this 
purpose making written overtures to them. They have 
declared that the laws of war observed among civilized 
nations ought not to be practised among us ; and their 
general Pezuela, after the battle of Ayouma, in order to 
avoid any compromise or understanding, had the arro- 
gance to answer General Belgrano that with insurgents it 
was impossible to enter into treaties. 

" Such has been the conduct of Spaniards toward us 
since the restoration of Ferdinand de Bourbon to the 
throne of his ancestors. We then believed that the ter- 
mination of so many sufferings and disasters had arrived. 



PERSECUTIONS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN RACES 83 

We had supposed that a king schooled by the lessons of 
adversity would not be indifferent to the desolation of 
his people, and we sent over a commissioner to him in 
order to acquaint him with our situation. We could not 
for a moment conceive that he would fail to meet our 
wishes as a benign prince, nor could we doubt that our 
requests would interest him in a manner corresponding to 
that gratitude and goodness which the courtiers of Spain 
had extolled to the skies. But a new and unknown 
species of ingratitude was reserved for America, surpass- 
ing all the examples found in the histories of the greatest 
tyrants. 

" Given in the Hall of Congress, Buenos Ay res, this 
twenty-fifth day of October, eighteen hundred and seven- 
teen. 

"Dr. Pedro Ignacio de Castro y Barros, 

President. 

"Dr. Jose Eugenio de Elias, 

Secretary." 

The cruel policy of Spain did not begin in her colonies. 
The sufferings of the Jews in Spain are one of the most 
terrible chapters in human history. The defenseless 
Hebrews were driven from their homes. They were de- 
prived not only of their estates, but of their means of sup- 
port. The women and children wandered homeless and 
foodless. Many of these people, after their expulsion, 
became the victims of the Inquisition, and fed the fires of 
the auto da fe. The crown profited by the confiscated 
property. During the eighteen years of Torquemada's 
ministry more than ten thousand Jews were burned alive. 
The expulsion of the Jews was the beginning of the fall of 
Spain. 

In Cuba, the glory of the Spanish Main, the colonial 



84 SOUTH AMERICA 

system was reasserted in 1825, under the name of " Royal 
Order." This order placed the absolute power in the 
hands of the captain-general, and gave to this officer " the 
whole extent of authority which is granted to the governors 
of besieged towns." Cuba may be said to have been under 
martial law from that date. Since 1825 there was no 
legislative assembly in Cuba, except that of the revolu- 
tionists. Since 1836 it has not had any real representation 
in the Cortes. There have been no popular assemblies, 
no juntas, no elections, no juries to protect individual rights. 
The press and the public amusements have been under 
censorship. Patriots were subject to banishment without 
charge, trial or record. There was, indeed, a Real Audi- 
encia, but it obeyed the will of the governor. 

No native Cuban could hold any office of honor or 
emolument. The army was composed almost wholly of 
Spaniards. No man in Cuba might entertain a stranger 
in any time of public peril overnight, without permission 
of the magistrate. No one might carry weapons of 
defense. 

But though the people were not allowed to exercise 
their rights, they were heavily taxed. To be taxed seems 
to have been, in the eyes of their taskmasters, the 
only purpose of their existence. Cuba paid the expenses 
of the government of her tyrants, and sent enormous 
revenues to Spain. What Cuba was from 1825 to 1898 
represents the ancient colonial system of the whole Spanish 
empire in the South. The Peninsular king was the state. 
His empires existed for him and his. He was to be re- 
garded as the elect of God, and could do no wrong. 

The Spanish rule of slavery and robbery in Cuba began 
in 15 1 1, more than a hundred years before the sailing of 
the Mayflower. Within half a century after the discovery, 
Spanish cruelty almost extinguished the innocent native 



PERSECUTIONS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN RACES 85 

population. Negro slavery followed this great injustice. 
Havana became a port of the slave-trade, which was car- 
ried on for the enrichment of Spain, whose monarchs 
never regarded Cuba as an integral part of their empire. 
Half a million slaves were brought to Cuba as late as the 
early part of the present century. The cruelty with which 
these slaves were treated led to the fearful insurrections 
of 1844 and 1868. 

An effort for the independence of Cuba was made in 
the middle of this century. The isle of June, the ever- 
beautiful isle, began to feel the influence of the republics 
with which it was surrounded. The men doomed to toil 
for the luxury of a foreign court became restless to be 
free. 

Puerto Principe, a central province four hundred and 
fifty miles from Havana, contained a population favorable 
to the development of liberty. It became the starting- 
place of the insurrection. Its soil is rich and productive, 
and it is flanked by noble mountains on either hand. 

Here was an inland city of the same name as the 
province, which was remote from political cabals. The 
inhabitants were virtuous, upright and strong. They 
breathed the air of liberty and felt the strength of the 
hills. They came to abhor oppression. They were the 
Puritans of Cuba. They saw what the island might be 
under the rule of democracy, liberty and a free conscience. 
But the garrote, the dungeon and the sword held their 
growing patriotism in check. Suddenly twelve of their 
noble citizens were arrested for participating in revolution- 
ary movements. The city, then of some one hundred 
thousand souls, was thrown into intense excitement. The 
flag of independence was unfurled on July 4, 1852, in the 
groves where the people assembled. The battle of 
Puerto Principe, which followed the movement, was a 



86 SOUTH AMERICA 

victory for the Cuban patriots, and the country arose 
in arms. The battles of Coscorro, Las Tunas, Najassa, 
San Miguel and Cerro followed. 

Soon General Lopez, from Key West, with a force of 
patriots, appeared on the coast to aid the Cubans. He 
repulsed the Spanish. 

The war opened with a scene of barbarism. Fifty-two 
American citizens, who had gone out from the invading 
expedition in four launches, were captured by a Spanish 
man-of-war, and were condemned to death. The captives 
were brought to Havana on August 16, and were executed 
the same day. They were compelled to kneel with their 
backs to the executioners, in view of some twenty thousand 
spectators. After being shot, their bodies were dragged 
by the feet, by negroes, and then left to the fury of the 
mob, who stripped them of most of their clothes, and bore 
them through the public streets, crying out like demons. 
The barbarous manner of the execution of these patriotic 
adventurers filled America with indignation. Public meet- 
ings were held there to express the popular feeling. 

The whole Spanish force was now directed against 
General Lopez. He was defeated and wounded. He 
was run down by bloodhounds, captured and executed. 
His last words were, " Adieu, dear Cuba!" 

Some thirty-five years ago the Virginius, a ship that 
was secretly in the service of the Cuban patriots, but not 
proved to have been so until long after her capture, was 
seized by the Spanish cruiser Tornada, not far from 
Jamaica. She was sailing under the United States flag, 
and had United States papers. Her officers and men were 
taken to Santiago de Cuba, and were shot a day or two 
after their capture. The captain of the Virginius was 
named Fry. His farewell to his men was most affecting. 
Some of the wounded adventurers had their heads blown 



PERSECUTIONS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN RACES 87 

off in a savage way, and the bodies of all were given over 
to the chain-gang. The slaughter of these men without 
any reference of the case to consular powers for the de- 
cision of international tribunals was barbarism, and was 
accomplished in a barbarous manner. If the men had 
forfeited their lives, it should have been proved before 
their execution. 

The revolution of 1868-78 developed the same injustice 
and cruelty on the part of the Spanish. The principal 
Cuban grievance at this time was that the Spaniards 
drained the island of between forty and fifty per cent, of 
the annual income, and left the people poor and uncared 
for. They were simply slaves of a foreign power, that 
robbed them of the fruits of their labors. Spain promised 
to redress this and the other grievances. The rebels, 
reposing confidence in Spain's honor, laid down their 
arms. Spain betrayed that confidence. 

This failure of Spain to keep her promise caused the 
present rebellion. At first Marshal Campos was sent to 
Cuba. He was recalled, and Weyler was sent. Weyler 
inaugurated the policy of the trocha, or the confinement 
of the Cubans in certain limits. He caused them to be 
concentrated within the plowed furrows around fortified 
places, to starve in a land of plenty. 

On January 8, 1898, General Lee, consul-general of 
the United States at Havana, made the following report 
to his government : 

" Sir : I have the honor to state, as a matter of public 
interest, that the ' reconcentrado order ' of General Weyler, 
formerly governor-general of this island, transformed about 
four hundred thousand self-supporting people, principally 
women and children, into a multitude to be sustained by 
the contributions of others, or die of starvation or of fevers 
resulting from a low physical condition, and being massed 



88 SOUTH AMERICA 

in large bodies, without change of clothing and without 
food. Their homes were burned, their fields and plant- 
beds destroyed, and their live stock driven away or killed. 

" I estimate that probably two hundred thousand of the 
rural population in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana, 
Matanzas and Santa Clara have died of starvation or 
from resultant causes; and the deaths of whole families 
almost simultaneously, or within a few days of each other, 
and mothers praying for their children to be relieved of 
their horrible suffering by death, are not the least of the 
many pitiable scenes which were ever present." 

The sufferings of the reconcentrados awakened the 
sympathy of humanity. Spain yielded to the awakened 
sentiment of the Christian nations, and removed Weyler. 
After nearly four hundred years of injustice in Cuba, her 
power in the most beautiful land that eyes ever beheld 
had been overthrown. 

The church in this long period of injustice has too often 
stood by the throne, and yet out of it have come patriot 
priests like Hidalgo in Mexico, Beltran of the Army of 
the Andes, and some of the heroes of the independence 
of Peru. These patriot priests have followed the principles 
of Las Casas, one of the most noble philanthropists that 
ever honored the cause of true Christianity. He was a 
Dominican monk. To him it was noble to be noble, 
without any fear of punishment or hope of reward. Las 
Casas was born in Seville in 1474. He made himself the 
defender of the rights of the native people in America, 
and boldly declared that any war waged against these 
people, or any robbery of them or injustice toward them, 
because they were regarded as " infidels," was wrong. 
He announced that Christianity was sufficient for their 
conversion, and he brought under its influence a most 
warlike nation in Guatemala by the simple preaching of 



PERSECUTIONS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN RACES 89 

the gospel. His success in thus winning a nation awak- 
ened the admiration of Pope Paul III., who was led to 
issue a sentence of excommunication against any " who 
should reduce these Indians to slavery, or rob them of 
their goods." Las Casas brought a golden age to Guate- 
mala, as Quetzalcohuatl, the legendary St. Thomas, had 
to the ancient Mexicans. 

We have seen in the fate of Atahualpa and of the two 
Tupactmarus what the native races were called upon to 
endure in the persons of their chiefs. Gonzalo Pizarro 
was of the same spirit as his brother. He tortured the 
Indians to make them reveal places of hidden treasures. 
For the same reason he burned some of them, and caused 
others to be torn to pieces by bloodhounds trained to 
feed on human flesh. De Soto, whose heart was schooled 
in these Peruvian barbarities, pursued the same course 
wherever he went. He landed at Tampa with horses 
mounted with gold, but with bloodhounds trained to tear 
to pieces the native inhabitants who should oppose his 
march or seek to hide from him their treasures. He robbed 
the caciques, or native kings or chiefs, not only of their 
goods, but of the beautiful women of their families. 

The torture of Guatemotzin, the nephew of Montezuma 
II. and the last of the Aztecs, illustrates the same spirit 
of cruelty. He had been promised protection by Cortez. 
But in the fall of the City of Mexico less gold was found 
there than the conquerors had expected, and the captive 
monarch was suspected of having hidden the royal trea- 
sure. On being taken captive, he had said to Cortez : " I 
have done all I could to defend my people. I am reduced 
to this state. Better despatch me with your poniard and 
end my life now." "Fear not," replied Cortez. "You 
have defended your capital bravely, and shall be treated 
with honor. A Spaniard knows how to respect the valor 



90 SOUTH AMERICA 

of an enemy." In the rage of the Spaniards at not find- 
ing a great hoard of treasure in the fallen city, he was 
put to torture. According to the historic monument, his 
feet were placed over a slow fire. He bore the torture in 
stoical silence. 

The cacique of Tacuba was tortured with him. He 
confessed to a knowledge of hidden treasure. They re- 
leased him to find it. But he could discover none. " My 
only motive for confessing," he said, " was the hope that 
I might die on the road to the place that I named." 

The cruelty of the Spanish rulers fell also upon the 
Creoles, or the descendants of European immigrants who 
were born in America. Most of those in Latin America 
were of Spanish descent, and were proud of their ancestry 
and of the glory of Spain. They believed in the divine 
right of kings, and thought that the throne of Spain 
could do no wrong. They at first believed that the will 
of heaven was in Spain's triumphal march over the seas 
and sierras. For two centuries they bore all with patience. 
They were deprived of their rights, were heavily taxed, 
were compelled to toil and do the will of the viceroy for 
the glory of Spain. 

The struggles for independence brought out all the cruel 
selfishness and intolerance of the Spanish national char- 
acter. Larrazabal, whom we have much quoted, gives 
us some descriptions of the inhumanity of the war in 
Venezuela. General Boves, the Spanish commander there, 
swore that he would exterminate the whole American race. 
In 1 8 14, and later, the Spanish army there entered into 
his spirit. When he was victorious Boves would say that 
he had gained, and when he was defeated he would say 
that he had gained, as in either case his purpose was the 
destruction of the American race. 

Field-Marshal Don Francisco Montalvo reported to the 



PERSECUTIONS OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN RACES 9 1 

minister of war in Spain, in 1814, as follows: "Don Jose 
Tomas Boves and those who follow him do not distinguish 
between delinquents and innocents. All such die for the 
crime of being born in America." 

Larrazabal says of the massacre of Aragua : " Children 
were murdered on the very breasts of their mothers. The 
same knife divided the heads of both." Again: "They 
were flayed alive, and then thrown into poisonous and 
pestilential swamps." 

It was such crimes that led Simon Bolivar to issue his 
ever-to-be-regretted proclamation of war to the death. 
The land smoked with burning houses ; the highways were 
strewn with bodies of the dead. The young, the old, the 
mother, the daughter, all perished, and the land where 
Boves marched became a desolation. Honor counted for 
nothing, virtue for nothing, in those days when the smoke 
of villages turned the sun into darkness and when rivers 
became streams of blood. 

In Peru the tragedy went on for centuries. After the 
first Pizarro came Carbajal, a monster so cruel that he was 
believed to have had a "familiar," or to have been pos- 
sessed of an evil spirit. He was guilty of the death of 
hundreds of political offenders, whom he delighted to 
torture, and to jeer at when dying. At the age of eighty- 
four he himself was condemned to death. He was thrown 
into a basket and carried to execution amid jeers as heart- 
less as those he had been accustomed to heap upon others. 

The colonial system of Spain has crumbled, as all in- 
justice must, by the law of its own gravitation. To Spain 
the last of her colonial empires is lost; the Pearl of the 
Antilles follows the example of Lima, the Pearl of the 
Pacific. Cuba ends the long empire of injustice, and sets 
her banner in the line of the republics of the Sun. 

A better age is at hand. The gates of the twentieth cen- 



92 SOUTH AMERICA 

tury are opening, and through them are to pass the armies 
of the schools. The days of the bull- fights are gone. 
The times of persecution, in any form, are already a part 
of the darkness of the past. Liberty gives to man his 
birthright. The end of liberty is justice, and the end of 
justice is peace. The deeds of Hernando Cortez, of Pedro 
de Alvarado, of Francisco Pizarro and of Philip II. will 
never again be enacted on the American continent. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH — THE TRI- 
UMPH OF BOLIVAR— THE BATTLE OF ARAURE— 
PETION— PIAR — BOLIVAR ELECTED PRESIDENT — 
THE MARCH OVER THE CORDILLERAS — THE BAT- 
TLE OF BOYACA— ANGOSTURA— COLOMBIA 

IET us repeat. There were three great struggles for 
-/ liberty in South America — that of the north under 
Bolivar, that of the south under San Martin, and that of 
the center under Sucre. Bolivar led the movement of the 
north. 

When Miranda lay down in the closet he had a new 
vision. He hoped to go to New Granada and unite his 
fortunes with the liberal government there, and, old as he 
was, make a new struggle for South American liberty. 

Strangely enough, the last dream of the unhappy 
Miranda was to be fulfilled in Bolivar, who had become 
his enemy. Bolivar took up the work of liberation that 
Miranda had left uncompleted. He felt that this was his 
mission, that in fulfilling it he was being led by a divinity. 
From the hour when he took the hand of Rodriguez on 
Monte Sacro, and swore to devote his life to the liberties 
of his country, he felt that to accomplish that task was his 
destiny. We must ever judge his purpose by this oath. 
If he committed sins, they brought their punishment, as all 

93 



94 SOUTH AMERICA 

sins do. They made his life less successful than it might 
have been. But in nearly every proclamation that he 
issued he recognized the Divine Being that his heart 
wished to follow. He made himself the altar of liberty, 
and at last laid himself upon it. 

He came to Venezuela to achieve the liberties of the 
people. He began this achievement as a soldier of 
Miranda. He failed and fled. He came back again by 
the way of New Granada. He entered Caracas in triumph. 
His cause seemed to fail, but it had made progress. He 
again became an exile. He returned by the way of 
republican New Granada. Again he entered Caracas in 
triumph. The cause had advanced. But he failed a 
second time, and sought refuge in the island of Jamaica. 
Again he returned. He became the hero of Boyaca and 
Carabobo. He united the republics of New Granada 
and Venezuela. He swept over the snowy Cordilleras, 
and added Ecuador to the growing empire. He entered 
the magical atmosphere of Peru, and there laid the foun- 
dations of the republic. He was dictator, president, the 
inspiration of emancipation and liberty. After every suc- 
cess and seeming failure the cause of freedom in the Andes 
advanced. Then he surrendered all to the cause, and died 
of a broken heart ; but his influence in the world still grew. 
The inspiration that filled the heart of the young traveler 
at Monte Sacro will never cease to influence his countrymen. 

To return to his early history, a new theater awaits him 
now. He is to win back the liberties of Venezuela, but 
through New Granada. 

Beautiful New Granada! It bears the name that was 
the pride of Spain, of the historic and scenic province of 
the Sierra Nevada and the Guadalquivir. Spain crowned 
this viceroyalty with her choicest name. She might well 
do so. The Andes have a loftier brow here than the 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH 95 

mountains in enthralling Andalusia, and the Magdalena 
moves on a more majestic way to the Caribbean than 
does the Guadalquivir to the Mediterranean. Cartagena, 
like another Cadiz, here arose on the margin of the purple 
sea. Spain lavished millions upon its walls. She even 
built walls under the sea. The city in its ruin, with the 
monasteries and convents crowning its green hills, with 
its yellow walls sixty feet thick, — walls that cost so much 
that an old legend reports that the King of Spain expected 
to see them rising over the sea, — with its ancient church, 
with its quintas, its gardens of palms, its wildernesses of 
all floral delights, is still a picture of Spain in the New 
World. The republic now has an area of some 513,000 
square miles, and a population of three millions, of whom 
nearly one half are of European origin. Its highest 
plateaus rise 14,000 feet. Its mountain-crown has an 
altitude of 18,200 feet. From this sublime range, Nevada 
de Tolma, on the frontier of Ecuador, the Magdalena 
flows. 

The ancient city of Santa Fe de Bogota stands above 
the Magdalena, on a plateau 8690 feet high. It is ap- 
proached from the Caribbean by steamboats on the river, 
and by mules from the shore. The Cordilleras are white 
with snow, and the valleys are green with verdure. The 
products of all climates may be cultivated here. 
.. The republic has ever had a liberal heart. Its people 
are given to literary and scientific culture, and this inspira- 
tion has found a field in a thousand schools. 

New Granada was erected into a viceroyalty of Spain 
in 1 718. When Napoleon set aside Ferdinand VIL, and 
put his own brother Joseph on the throne of Spain, a 
republican sentiment began to develop in New Granada, 
and the people formed a government of their own. It 
united with Venezuela and Ecuador to form a northern 



96 SOUTH AMERICA 

republic under Bolivar, but became independent of the union 
in 1858, under the name of the United States of Colombia. 

History now follows the course of the life of Bolivar, 
whom the patriotic clubs were already hailing as the 
Liberator. We have seen no more interesting account of 
this period of Bolivar's life than is contained in a review 
of the " Historia de la Revolucion de la Republica de 
Colombia, por Jose Manuel Restrepo, Secretario del In- 
terior del Poder Ejecutivo de la misma Republica," by the 
Hon. Caleb Cushing. It appeared in the rt North Ameri- 
can Review" for January, 1829. It pictures not only 
the military movements of Bolivar, but the animus and 
methods of the great leader. 

After the disaster at Puerto Cabello, Bolivar retired to 
New Granada, and his life from this date is portrayed in 
a single paragraph by Mr. Cushing : " The government of 
Cartagena, little anticipating the brilliant fortune which 
awaited Bolivar, appointed him to the command of the 
little station Barranca, within the district committed to 
the adventurer Labatut, and, of course, regularly under 
his orders. But the active spirit of Bolivar prevented his 
remaining contented in the obscurity of a subordinate 
command, and led him to undertake of his own authority 
a movement of that bold conception and vigorous, rapid 
execution which afterward became the great characteristic 
of his military genius, and he rose to be the trusted leader 
of the armies of the independence." 

Young Bolivar found a shelter in Cartagena, the strong- 
hold of republicanism. He met there a patriot leader who 
was marching upon Santa Marta. He offered to enlist 
under him as a private. Bolivar's patriotism at this time 
found expression in a declaration the sincerity of which 
cannot be doubted, and which merits immortality : " / 
disregarded rank and distinction, because I aspired to a 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH 97 

more honorable destiny — to shed my blood for the liberty of 
my country! " 

The first movement of Bolivar was the key-note of the 
march which ended in Lima, the " City of the Kings." 
The Spaniards held the Magdalena, and the Magdalena 
must be free. His movements were so bold and swift as 
to take the enemy at a disadvantage. He accomplished 
his purpose, and won the approval of the republic. His 
name in New Granada became a star. The state made 
him a general. His army grew, owing to his magnetism. 
Having freed the Magdalena and gained other successes, 
he resolved to march into the interior. The Spaniards, 
who boasted that they would not respect a flag of truce, 
were compelled to flee before him. He won victory after 
victory, and on August 6, 181 3, entered the city of Cara- 
cas in triumph, amid the vivas of the multitude. 

Larrazabal vividly describes the triumphal entry of the 
Liberator into his native city. " Long live the Liberator ! 
Long live New Granada! Long live the savior of 
Venezuela!" was shouted by a concourse of more than 
thirty thousand people. Says Larrazabal : " A multitude 
of beautiful young women, dressed in white and bearing 
crowns of laurel, pushed their way through the crowds to 
take hold of the bridle of his horse. Bolivar dismounted, 
and was almost overpowered by the crowns cast upon him. 
/The people wept for joy." 

On December 3, 1813, the patriots encamped on the 
plain of Araure. They numbered thirty-five hundred 
men. The battle that followed was a furious one. The 
fate of the day was decided by a sudden and unexpected 
movement directed by the Liberator. The enemy was 
routed, and fled, leaving in the hands of the patriots one 
thousand muskets, ten field-pieces, four flags and three 
thousand prisoners. 



98 SOUTH AMERICA 

Larrazabal relates an incident of this contest which 
shows the spirit of true heroes who have been vanquished. 
Few stories of the victories of the vanquished are more 
thrilling or better illustrate the unconquerable power of 
purpose. " At the battle of Araure, memorable feat of 
arms, in which the most intrepid valor was crowned with 
the most signal victory, all the soldiers, officers and chiefs 
made themselves worthy of admiration ; but there was 
a battalion which was particularly distinguished by the 
conferring of the title of ' Conquerors of Araure,' and to 
which Bolivar presented a flag. What was the motive of 
such an honorable distinction? We remember that at 
Barquisimeto the sound alone of the signal of retreat, 
executed by a drummer, placed our infantry in irreparable 
disorder, the extraordinary efforts of the general-in-chief 
and his brave officers not being sufficient to remedy it. 
Of the relics preserved another battalion was formed at 
San Carlos. Bolivar, who had been extremely irritated by 
the unpardonable conduct of the infantry, gave it the title 
of ' Battalion without Name,' and did not allow it a flag 
until it should win it on the battle-field. The ' Battalion 
without Name,' mortified by this degrading treatment, 
determined to gain a famous name, and to take flags from 
the enemy. At Araure it composed the center. Eight 
minutes had not transpired from the time they opened 
their fire when they already had possession of a flag, throw- 
ing themselves with heroic intrepidity upon the triple 
Spanish line of formidable artillery, infantry and cavalry. 
Bolivar, who beheld them perform these prodigies of valor, 
named the battalion ' Conquerors of Araure,' and on the 
day following the victory, in a review, he presented them 
a flag, saying : ' Soldiers, your bravery yesterday on the 
field of battle has gained a name for your corps, and in the 
midst of the fire, when I beheld you triumphing, I pro- 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH 99 

claimed you "Conquerors of Araure." You have taken 
flags from the enemy who at one moment was victori- 
ous ; you have gained the celebrated one called the " In- 
vincible Numancia." Carry, soldiers, this flag of the 
republic. I am certain that you will always follow it 
with glory. . . .' 

" The battalion received the flag from the hands of the 
Liberator with a concert of joy and enthusiasm, giving 
vivas to the genius of victory." 

Boves now entered the field for Spain, with the purpose 
of killing every patriot he could find, and striking terror 
to all hearts by torture, fire and merciless deeds. The 
patriot cause for a while grew ; but eventually Boves, with 
Spanish recruits, defeated Bolivar at La Puerta, and the 
great expectation of Venezuela remained unrealized. 

Bolivar returned to New Granada, organized a new army, 
and continued the war upon the coast. The war became 
a political contest with his rival Castillo. He now found 
himself in a difficult position, owing to political entangle- 
ments. He seems to have acted unwisely. He was forced 
to conclude a treaty, relinquished the command of the 
army to General Palacios, and sailed for Jamaica, May 8, 
181 5. But, notwithstanding these disasters, his faith in 
the cause was not lost. He was ready to enter the field 
again when the gate of opportunity should open. 
' An unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him was made 
at Jamaica. A negro was engaged to do the deed. On 
the night appointed another man chanced to sleep in 
Bolivar's bed, and received the dagger-thrust intended for 
the Liberator. 

Bolivar, restless and ill at ease, now went to Aux-Cayes. 
He found sympathy there in the negro republic. He 
began to organize a new expedition for the emancipation 
of Venezuela. He desired to return there and again place 



IOO SOUTH AMERICA 

himself at the head of the patriots who were struggling to 
maintain the cause of independence. 

Bolivar furnishes one of the most notable examples of 
persistency of purpose in all history. If one opportunity 
failed, he waited for a greater one. At this time, when 
so much seemed lost, his vision of what America might be 
grew more and more clear. " I desire," he said, " to see 
in America the greatest nation in the world, famed less 
for its extension and riches than for its glory and liberty. 
America can sustain seventeen nations. The states from 
the Isthmus of Panama to Guatemala shall form an asso- 
ciation. This magnificent position between the two great 
oceans shall be in turn the emporium of the world. Its 
canals shall shorten the distances of the earth. How grand 
would it be if the Isthmus of Panama could be to us what 
Corinth was to the Greeks! God grant that we may some 
day have the fortune of convening there an august con- 
gress of the representatives of the republics, kingdoms 
and empires to discuss the all-important interests of peace 
and war with the nations of the world!" 

Bolivar now met the immortal apostle of liberty, Alex- 
andre Petion, President of Hayti. This man, whose name 
is forever beloved by the negro race, was born at Port au 
Prince in 1770. He was well educated. He had lived in 
France at the period of the rise of Napoleon. On return- 
ing to Hayti he had entered with a true and noble sym- 
pathy into the cause of his race. After the overthrow of 
Toussaint L'Ouverture he entered into the plans of Des- 
salines in the demand for the independence of his country. 
He became the idol of the Haytians. He was elected 
President, and later was reelected. On the achievement 
of liberty in Hayti he believed that the mission of his life 
was accomplished. 

When Bolivar and Petion met, the latter was affected 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH IOI 

to tears, and said : " Que le bon Dieu vous benir dans 
toutes vos entreprises! " He rendered Bolivar all the 
aid in his power toward the fitting out of the expedi- 
tion for the recovery of Venezuela. The Liberator speaks 
thus of this man : " His first quality was kindness, and 
kindness is that human virtue that does most honor to 
a man." " I shall always pay my tribute to that great 
man," said Petion of Bolivar. " I feel toward him 
as toward the noble minds of antiquity." He saw in 
Bolivar a man who could advance the interests of his own 
race. " When your expedition shall land in Venezuela," 
he said to Bolivar, " free the slaves. For how can you 
found a republic where slavery exists? " 

Bolivar himself had the same thought and purpose. On 
landing in Venezuela he freed his own slaves, and issued 
a proclamation giving freedom to the slaves of the country. 

He devoted the resources of his own property to this 
new expedition. He collected some six ships, and an 
army of one hundred and fifty exiles. With these he set 
forth, for the third time, for the emancipation of Venezuela. 
He landed at Margarita. Here he captured two Spanish 
vessels, and was hailed by the people as chief. He issued 
a proclamation announcing the third period of the republic. 
He penetrated into the interior, his army gathering force. 
His name was an inspiration. He returned to Hayti to 
organize a new expedition among the islanders. He saw 
that the new liberation must come in part from the islands. 
The republic of Hayti had forced upon the amiable Petion, 
by acclamation, the title of " Chief for life." The latter 
entered again into the cause of Bolivar, but under the 
limitations of international law. Bolivar organized a new 
force, and again landed at Margarita, and there again 
issued a proclamation to the Venezuelan patriots, calling 
upon them to convene a congress at Margarita : " Vene- 



102 SOUTH AMERICA 

zuelans, name your deputies to Congress. The island of 
Margarita is completely free. In it your assemblies shall 
be respected and defended by a people who are heroes in 
virtue, in valor and in patriotism. Assemble on this sacred 
soil, organize, open your sessions. The first act of your 
functions may be the acceptance of my resignation. Mar- 
garita, December 28, 18 16." 

On January 1, 181 7, Bolivar landed at Barcelona, never 
again to be driven from the country. This time he was 
to organize a movement that should give liberty to the 
New World. His great opportunity had now come. The 
country was ripe for a new struggle for emancipation. 
The people were driven to desperation by the barbarity 
of the Spanish rule. 

Though now but the leader of small bodies of men, he 
wrote to General Palacios on January 2, 181 7: "The 
troops of Urdaneta have joined those of Zaraza. When 
this army shall have the arms it needs, and joins our 
forces, there will be formed a mass of ten thousand men. 
We shall be able to march to Santa Fe and Peru, and 
liberate those provinces from the yoke of the tyrants that 
oppress them." 

The patriots in most places were disposed to hail Bolivar 
as their chief, and to seek his will and direction. His posi- 
tion at Barcelona was a perilous one. Marino, the patriot 
general of the south, who saw Bolivar's danger, brought 
to him twelve hundred men. " I have come to embrace 
the Liberator of the liberator," said Marino's principal 
general, on meeting Bolivar. 

The liberating army now marched into the interior by 
the way of the Orinoco, where a part of the patriot forces 
were contending, near Angostura. Left with but a small 
protection, Barcelona was besieged by the Spanish general 
Aldama, and was compelled to surrender. The Spaniards 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH IO3 

massacred nearly seven hundred soldiers, more than three 
hundred old men, women and children, and fifty invalids 
in the hospital. The cruelties of this slaughter are inde- 
scribable. 

The clouds darkened again about Bolivar. Barcelona 
was ruined. Marino withdrew dissatisfied. Morillo, the 
Spanish general, had returned from the kingdom of Santa 
Fe resolved on the total extermination of the patriots. Piar, 
a signally successful general, conspired against Bolivar. 

Thus the cause of independence in Venezuela had lived 
amid many vicissitudes. Bolivar may have made mistakes, 
but the patriots believed in his patriotism. He had re- 
turned to Venezuela without substantial authority, but the 
patriot cause had again turned to him for leadership. As 
soon as he returned the patriots felt that they were again 
a republic. The Spanish army under Morillo was yet 
powerful, but the desire of the people was for liberty, and 
Simon Bolivar was looked upon as the man providentially 
appointed to lead their cause. 

Manuel Carlos Piar, a soldier of Curacao, West Indies, 
was born in 1 782. His youth was spent in hardship. He 
engaged in trade with Venezuela, and there came to meet 
the patriot Miranda. He entered the patriot army of 
Venezuela as a lieutenant. Although a soldier under 
Marino, he engaged in a conspiracy against him and 
Bolivar. After the Spanish successes he left the country 
for the islands. Bolivar forgave his treachery. In 18 16 
he joined the expedition of Bolivar from Hayti, and was 
made a major-general of the invading army. He gained 
a great victory at San Felix, April, 18 17. He again 
entered into a conspiracy against Bolivar, and sought to 
overthrow him and supplant him. He was condemned 
to death by a court martial, and was shot at Angostura, 
October 16, 181 7. 



104 SOUTH AMERICA 

Bolivar has been censured for the death of Piar, but 
he sought to save him from both treachery and death. 
He remembered San Felix, and exercised a great mag- 
nanimity toward this brilliant but vain and ambitious man, 
who had twice become his enemy. 

The Liberator, on the day following the death of Piar, 
issued a proclamation : 

" Soldiers : Yesterday was a day of pain for my heart. 
General Piar was executed for his crimes of high treason, 
conspiracy and desertion. A just and legal tribunal pro- 
nounced the sentence against that unfortunate citizen, 
who, intoxicated by the favors of fortune, and to satiate 
his ambition, attempted to ruin the country. General 
Piar really had done important services to the republic, 
and although the course of his conduct had always been 
mutinous, his services were bountifully rewarded by the 
government of Venezuela. 

" Nothing was left to be desired by a chief who had 
obtained the highest grades of the army. The second 
authority of the republic, which was vacant by the dissi- 
dence of General Marino, was to be conferred on him 
before his rebellion ; but he aspired to the supreme com- 
mand, and formed a purpose the most atrocious that can 
be conceived. Not only had Piar intended civil war, but 
also anarchy, and the most inhuman sacrifice of his own 
companions and brethren. 

" Soldiers! You know it. Equality, liberty and inde- 
pendence are our motto. Has not humanity recovered 
her rights by our laws? Have not our arms broken the 
chains of the slaves? Has not the hateful difference of 
classes and colors been abolished forever? Have not the 
national moneys been ordered to be divided among you ? 
Do not fortune and glory await you? Are not your 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH 105 

merits abundantly rewarded, or at least justly? What, 
then, did General Piar want for you ? Are you not equal, 
free, independent, happy and honored ? Could Piar obtain 
for you greater wealth? No, no, no. The tomb was 
being opened by Piar with his own hands, to bury in 
it the life, the wealth, the honor of the brave defenders 
of the liberty of Venezuela, their children, wives and 
fathers. . . . 

"Soldiers! Heaven watches for your well-being, and 
the government, which is your father, is vigilant in your 
behalf. Your chief, who is your companion in arms, who 
is always at your head, and has participated in your perils 
and privations, as also in your victories, confides in you ; 
rely then on him, sure that he loves you more than if 
even he were your father or your son. 

"Simon Bolivar. 

" Headquarters of Angostura, 

" October 17, 1817." 

These words reveal the spirit of Bolivar. We cannot 
doubt Bolivar's sincerity. The execution of Piar caused 
him as much suffering as that of Major Andre caused 
Washington. 

Bolivar now convened a Council of State at Angostura. 
He there organized a government, gave himself to the 
creation of a new republican sentiment, and formed a new 
army. 

The Council of State at Angostura provided for the 
election of a Congress. The representatives of the people 
to this Congress met there on January 1 of the eventful 
year 18 19. Bolivar was elected President with dictatorial 
power. 

What should be the next movement in this long contest? 
" Fabius was prudent, I am impetuous," said Bolivar, 
on being compelled, after the Congress of Angostura, to 



106 SOUTH AMERICA 

adopt the Fabian policy of wearing out an enemy by 
delay. 

The contest with the Spanish general Morillo, on the 
plains, had moved slowly, and Bolivar was not constituted 
for a campaign whose end was exhaustion. He said at 
Angostura: " Granadians, Venezuela with me marches 
to liberate you, as you with me marched to liberate Vene- 
zuela. The sun shall not complete its annual period 
without beholding raised in all your territory the altars of 
liberty." 

There seemed to come to Bolivar a new and sudden 
inspiration. He decided to cross the Granadian Andes, 
the mountain heights of winter and storm and desert, 
depose the viceroy, and restore to Granada her lost liber- 
ties. He would then reconquer Venezuela. 

The war in Venezuela stopped, or consisted only of 
movements to wear out the power of Morillo. Bolivar 
looked up to the rainy Andes, shadowed with clouds. 
He gave the first order to his army to begin the ascent 
of the Cordilleras, an order that caused even some of the 
llaneros to shrink and to desert. Those who watched 
the movement said with wonder, "Whither go they?" 

The march through the desert altitudes, in winter 
weather, with the half-naked troops of the plains, was 
arduous and perilous. The fiery faith of Bolivar in the 
power of the human will here found its most magnificent 
expression. His soul rose superior to all difficulties. In 
the clouded plains of the heights he led a dying army, 
but the men followed him. 

On the 25 th of May he issued a manifesto of the liberty 
of Granada. On the 226. of June he left the plains of 
Casanare. He ascended the heights almost without food 
and shelter. His cavalry in part vanished where it seemed 
that only the mules could live. 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH IO7 

He descended and met the Granadian army, which hailed 
him like one bringing an army from the skies. He said 
to these heroes of liberty : " In your midst you now have 
an army of friends and benefactors, and the God of suf- 
fering humanity will grant victory to our redeeming 
arms." 

On the 25th of July he met the Spanish general Bar- 
reiro in the open field. Bolivar had left behind no way of 
retreat. He led his troops in person. His voice was a 
trumpet-tone. He was victorious against a disciplined 
army. The Spaniards lost five hundred men, and left 
their flags, muskets and ammunition in the hands of the 
patriots. 

Granada rose to receive the liberating army, which grew 
by reinforcements. What this army had suffered and 
endured for the cause became an inspiration. The in- 
vading army followed Barreiro in his retreat, and came 
to Boyaca. Here it compelled Barreiro again to try the 
fortunes of war. Barreiro had three thousand men, 
Bolivar two thousand, but the latter had the spirit of 
freedom, and every man was as two. To Anzoatequi, a 
personal friend of Bolivar, who loved the latter as a 
brother and reverenced him almost as a god, was intrusted 
the direction of this great battle. He inspired the men 
with his own spirit. He surrounded body after body of 
the enemy, until the cavalry began to fly. The army 
broke, and Barreiro found it impossible to rally it. He 
himself became lost as if in a whirlwind, and was taken 
prisoner. The officers were nearly all made prisoners, 
together with sixteen hundred soldiers, their artillery and 
arms. The friend of Bolivar slept that night on the field 
of battle under the moon and stars. Bolivar marched to 
Bogota in triumph, and entered the astonished city, from 
which the viceroy had fled. 



108 SOUTH AMERICA 

He issued a manifesto which is a history, and rings in 
harmony with the event that it celebrated : 

" Headquarters of Santa Fe, August 14, 1819. 

"Simon Bolivar, President of the Republic, Captain-Gen- 
eral of the Armies of Venezuela and New Granada, 
etc., to his Excellency the Vice-President of the Re- 
public: 

" From the moment that I conceived the project of 
advancing my marches to the interior of this kingdom, 
I knew that an alarming fear would put in action all 
the resources of the Spanish authorities. In effect, this 
idea, based on the experience of my observations, was more 
confirmed when, in the states which were under the power 
of the viceroy Don Juan Samano, I found that a superior 
force, well organized and disciplined, was the wall against 
which it was intended that the brave liberating army should 
perish. 

" I calculated, notwithstanding, that the abundance of 
evils with which these people had been and still were 
afflicted should have prepared their minds to embrace with 
pleasure their heroic defenders. And, in truth, scarcely 
had I taken the first steps on this side of the mountains 
which divide the plains from the hilly country bounding 
the province of Casanare, when I heard resound before 
me the blessings of some men who awaited my arms with 
all the enthusiasm of liberty, as a remedy for the calamities 
and misfortunes which had carried them to the last degree 
of exasperation. 

" An experienced chief, at the head of an army of four 
or five thousand men, is the first thing which presents 
itself to me on the battle-field. The General Don Jose 
Maria Barreiro, charged with its direction, drains all his 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH IO9 

resources. The discipline of his troops, his fine organiza- 
tion, the advantageous position he occupied, and the 
abundance of resources he had opportunely prepared for 
himself, caused me to believe that this enterprise was only- 
proper to the intrepidity and bravery of the republican arms. 
"The battle of Boyaca, the complete victory which I 
have just obtained, has decided the fate of these inhabi- 
tants, and after having destroyed the army of the king I 
have flown to this capital." 

Bolivar, now master of the two republics, returned to 
Venezuela with the purpose of uniting them and forming 
the one republic of Colombia. 

The return of Bolivar to Angostura is thus dramatically 
described by Larrazabal : " On the day of his arrival at 
Angostura Baralt affirms that Bolivar appeared in the 
Hall of Congress. This is untrue. On the nth he did 
not leave the house, receiving there the compliments of 
his friends; the 12th he passed in seclusion, if not from 
sickness, at least suffering the fatigues of continued travel ; 
the 13th, in virtue of an official notice, from the minister 
of the interior to the secretary of the Congress, announ- 
cing that the Liberator, President of the republic, would 
proceed personally to present to the National Assembly 
the homage of the victories obtained under his command 
in New Granada, and the unanimous wish of those people 
for political reunion with Venezuela, an extraordinary 
session was appointed at twelve o'clock of the follow- 
ing day ; and as there were no ceremonies prepared for the 
reception of the Liberator, the Congress busied itself on 
the morning of the 14th in considering what should be 
observed in such an act. 

"At midday of the 14th the Congress was convened, 



IIO SOUTH AMERICA 

and the president, at that time Senator Zea, appointed a 
committee which, preceded by a military band, should 
proceed to congratulate his Excellency, and accompany 
him to the Hall of the Sessions. 

" Three cannon announced the march of Bolivar from 
his house. On entering the square before the Congress 
he was saluted with twenty-one rounds. 

" The Congress in a body went out to receive him out- 
side the railing, and the president, by a singular demon- 
stration, ceded him the chief seat, and said to him : ' Your 
Excellency has the floor. Congress awaits and desires to 
hear you.' Bolivar made a profound bow to the assembly, 
and said : ' On entering this august place my first feeling 
is that of gratitude for the infinite honor which Congress 
has thought proper to confer upon me, allowing me to 
return to occupy this chair, which scarcely a year ago I 
ceded to the president of the representatives of the people. 
When, undeservedly and against my strongest feelings, I 
was invested with the executive power at the beginning of 
this year, I represented to the sovereign body that my pro- 
fession, my character and my talents were incompatible 
with the functions of the magistrate ; thus, separated from 
these duties, I left their performance to the vice-president, 
and only took upon myself the charge of directing the 
war. I afterward marched against the Army of the West, 
at whose head was General Morillo. At the approach of 
winter General Morillo abandoned the plain of Araure, 
and I judged that the liberty of New Granada would pro- 
duce more advantages to the republic than the completion 
of that of Venezuela. 

" ' It would be lengthy to detail to the Congress the 
efforts made by the troops of the liberating army. The 
winter on the inundated plains, the frozen summits of 
the Andes, the sudden change of climate, a warlike army 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH III 

thrice our superior, and in possession of the best military 
localities of South America, and many other obstacles we 
had to surmount at Paya, Gameza, Vargas, Boyaca and 
Popayan, to liberate in less than three months twelve 
provinces of New Granada. 

" ' I recommend to the national sovereignty the merit 
of these great services on the part of my intrepid com- 
panions in arms, who, with an unexampled constancy, 
underwent mortal privations, and, with a valor unequaled 
in the annals of Venezuela, conquered and captured the 
army of the king. 

" ' But it is not only to the liberating army that we owe 
the advantages acquired. The people of New Granada 
have shown themselves worthy of being free. Their effi- 
cacious cooperation repaired our losses and increased our 
forces. This generous people have offered all their prop- 
erty and their lives on the altars of the country. Their 
desire for the union of their provinces to the provinces of 
Venezuela is also unanimous. The Granadians are thor- 
oughly convinced of the immense advantage which will re- 
sult to one and the other people by the creation of a new 
republic composed of these two nations. The reunion of 
New Granada and Venezuela is the only object which I 
have entertained since my first battle. It is the vote of 
the citizens of both countries, and it is the guaranty of 
the liberty of South America. 

" ' Legislators ! The moment of giving a fixed and 
eternal base to our republic has arrived. To decree this 
great social act, and to establish the principles upon which 
will be founded this vast republic, belong to your wisdom. 
Proclaim it to the world, and my services will be amply 
rewarded.' 

" When the Liberator pronounced this sentence, the Senor 
Zea stood up, full of inspiration and patriotism, and said : 



112 SOUTH AMERICA 

' Imagination, sirs, does not reach that which the hero of 
Venezuela has done since he left this august Congress 
installed. The undertaking of crossing the Andes with an 
army fatigued by so long and painful a campaign — this 
daring undertaking, during the rigor of the rainy season 
and hurricanes, appeared so extraordinary that the enemy 
believed it to be a military delirium. Nature being con- 
quered, further opposition was met with in an army three 
times more numerous, well provided, posted on that 
frontier, and always fighting in advantageous positions, — 
Gameza, Vargas, Bonza, Boyaca, — under the orders of a 
general as able as he was experienced. But all yields to 
the rapid and terrible impetus of the soldiers of the inde- 
pendence. Scarcely can victory keep up with the victor, 
and in less than three months the principal and main por- 
tion of New Granada has been freed by these same troops, 
whose complete destruction was held by the viceroy of 
Santa Fe to be sure and inevitable. 

" ' And what man sensible of the sublime and great, 
what country capable of appreciating lofty names, will not 
pay to the name of Bolivar the tribute of enthusiasm due 
to so much audacity and to such superhuman prodigies? 
To have carried the lightning of the arms and the ven- 
geance of Venezuela from the shores of the Atlantic to 
those of the Pacific ; to have hoisted the standard of liberty 
upon the Andes of the east and west; to have snatched 
away twelve provinces from the Inquisition and tyranny ; 
to have caused to reecho from the burning plains of 
Casanare to the frozen summits of the mountains of 
Ecuador, an extension of forty thousand square leagues, 
the heroic cry of liberty or death, which each time the 
people repeat with fresh energy and more intrepid reso- 
lution — will it not be admired? And the genius to 
whom this is due, will he not obtain the reward he ex- 



THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE NORTH 113 

pects ? What ! shall he not attain the union of the people 
whom he has freed and is still freeing? If Quito, Santa 
Fe and Venezuela are joined in one sole republic, who can 
calculate the power and prosperity corresponding to such 
an immense mass? May heaven bless this union, whose 
consolidation is the object of all my vigilance and the most 
ardent desire of my heart.' 

" The Liberator replied to the discourse of Zea, attribut- 
ing the glory of the redemption of New Granada to the 
valor and intrepidity of the troops, to the sublime enthu- 
siasm of the people, and to the ability and heroism of the 
chiefs, among whom he distinguished the English colonel 
Rook and the general of division, Anzoatequi. He also 
made an honorable commemoration of the distinguished 
patriotism of the secular and regular clergy of New 
Granada, who were convinced that the independence of 
America would extend the empire of religion and would 
give it new brilliance and splendor." 

The motion creating the Republic of Colombia was ap- 
proved by Congress on December 17, 1 8 1 9. The president 
of the Congress announced, " The Republic of Colombia 
is constituted ! " To the presidency of this new republic 
General Simon Bolivar was unanimously elected. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE BATTLE OF CARABOBO— PAEZ— THE LIBERTY OF 
THE NORTH— THE MAGNANIMITY OF BOLIVAR 

EARLY in the year 1821 an armistice had been pro- 
claimed. Morillo had gone to Havana, leaving the 
army under the command of General La Torre. On 
March 10, 1821, Bolivar informed General La Torre that 
hostilities were about to be resumed. Bolivar was now 
at the head of a splendid army. His forces, gathered in 
Venezuela, amounted to fifteen thousand men. Among 
these were the fiery llaneros and two thousand European 
troops. 

The Spaniards had taken position at Carabobo, a village 
on the high Andes, near the beautiful city of Valencia, a 
sister city of Caracas. The port of Valencia is Puerto 
Cabello. 

On June 24 a part of the Colombian army, eight thou- 
sand strong, appeared before the enemy. Bolivar believed 
that the future of liberty in South America depended 
upon this battle. He moved cautiously. He called a 
council of war and advised care in so great a peril. One 
of his trusty guides heard what he had said. The guide 
came up to him and said in a low tone : " I know a foot- 
path by means of which a body of men could move unseen 
and turn the Spaniards' right." Bolivar knew the man 
well. What he had suggested was the need of the hour. 

114 



THE LIBERTY OF THE NORTH 115 

" General Paez," Bolivar said, "follow the guide!" Paez 
went forth, followed by strong columns of cavalry. That 
order won the battle of Carabobo. 

The path over which the faithful guide led the division 
was almost impassable. The foot-soldiers were obliged 
to tear up their clothing in order to make bandages for 
their bleeding feet. The battalions suddenly appeared 
in the forest to the right of their astonished enemy. The 
cavalry impetuously charged. The Spanish were thrown 
into confusion, and General La Torre lost his presence of 
mind. General Paez threw his forces upon the disconcerted 
enemy, who fled on every hand. General La Torre and the 
remnant of his army shut themselves up in Puerto Cabello. 

The hero of Carabobo was Jose Antonio Paez, a llanero 
who rose to the highest offices in the republic. He was 
born in the province of Barinas, June 13, 1790. He was 
practically the President of Venezuela for some seventeen 
years, after that country separated from Colombia. To 
this man, in the height of his popularity and power, the 
Congress presented a golden sword, and the title of " Illus- 
trious Citizen." 

At the age of seventeen he was intrusted with some 
money, when he was waylaid in a wild region by four 
robbers. One of these robbers he slew on the spot. He 
escaped, fled to the plains of Barinas, and found employ- 
ment among the shepherds and cattle-dealers. 

The Spanish forces offered him a place of honor, but 
he was unwilling to bear arms against the patriot cause. 
He fled over the mountains, and in 18 10 joined the patriot 
troops. He became a cavalry leader, and inflicted severe 
blows on the Spanish forces. For services in the field he 
was honored by Granada, and when Francisco Santander, 
the commander of the Granadian army, resigned, Paez 
became the military chief of the mountaineers. 



Il6 SOUTH AMERICA 

In 1817 Paez gave his sword to the cause of Bolivar. 
In 18 19 he was made a major-general. He organized an 
army, won the decisive victory of Carabobo, and was 
raised to the rank of general-in-chief. 

When Venezuela became dissatisfied with the federal 
union and declared her independence of it, Paez was 
elected President. He retained his power, either by his 
own reelection or by the election of men of his choice, 
for some seventeen years. It was during his administra- 
tion of affairs that the body of Simon Bolivar was removed 
to Caracas, and that city paid the dead hero the honors 
that she had twice bestowed upon him when living. 

Paez passed his old age in the United States, dying in 
New York city in 1873. After his death his remains were 
removed to his native land. 

He was very severely criticized for the influence which 
he exercised in dismembering the Colombian republic. 
His political life made for him ardent friends and bitter 
enemies. 

The battle of Boyaca was a decisive event, but its 
results were completed in the field of the north by the 
victory of Carabobo, which ended the Spanish power in 
the new Republic of Colombia. 

The triumph of Carabobo brought out the true nobility 
of Bolivar. He had once given an order of war to the 
death. It was called forth amid terrible circumstances. 
Bolivar thus describes those circumstances in a manifesto 
issued at the time : 

" Yes, Americans, the hateful and cruel Spaniards have 
introduced desolation in the midst of the innocent and 
peaceful people of the Columbian hemisphere. The war 
to the death which these Spaniards wage has forced them 
to abandon their native country, which they have not 



THE LIBERTY OF THE NORTH I I 7 

known how to preserve, and have ignominiously lost. 
Fugitives and wanderers, like the enemies of the Saviour 
God, they behold themselves cast away from all parts, and 
persecuted by all men. Europe expels them, America 
repels them. Their vices in both worlds have loaded 
them with the malediction of all humankind. All parts 
of the globe are tinged with the innocent blood which the 
ferocious Spaniards have caused to flow. All of them are 
stained with the crimes which they have committed, not 
for the love of glory, but in the search of a vile metal, 
which is their supreme god. The executioners, who have 
entitled themselves our enemies, have most outrageously 
violated the rights of people and of nations at Quito, La 
Paz, Mexico, Caracas, and recently at Popayan. They 
sacrificed our virtuous brethren in their dungeons in the 
cities of Quito and La Paz ; they beheaded thousands of 
our prisoners in Mexico ; they buried alive, in the cells and 
floating prisons of Puerto Cabello and La Guayra, our 
fathers, children, and friends of Venezuela ; they have im- 
molated the president and commandant of Popayan, with 
all their companions of misfortunes; and lastly, O God! 
almost in our presence they have committed a most horrid 
slaughter at Barinas, of our prisoners of war and our 
peaceful countrymen of that capital. . . . But these 
victims shall be revenged, these assassins exterminated. 
-Our kindness is now quenched, and as our oppressors force 
us into a mortal war, they shall disappear from America, 
and our land shall be purged of the monsters who infest 
it. Our hatred will be implacable, and the war shall be 
to death. " SlMON BOLIVAR. 

"Headquarters of Merida, June 8, 1813." 

The critics of Bolivar have made free use of this mani- 
festo. This policy, however, was but temporary. It was 



Il8 SOUTH AMERICA 

in another spirit that he began the campaigns that ended 
in Carabobo and in Peru. When beginning them he said : 

"Soldiers! I hope that you will have humanity and 
compassion even for your most bitter enemies. Be the 
mediators between the vanquished and your victorious 
arms, and show yourselves as great in generosity as you 
are in victory! 

"Liberating Headquarters, Barinas, April 17, 1821." 

As noble are the words of another manifesto, issued at 
this period, when complete victory rose clearly in view: 
" Colombians ! This war shall not be a war of death, nor 
even of rigor ; it shall be a sanctified crusade. We shall 
fight to disarm, not to exterminate, our enemy! " 

Such words as these express Bolivar's sentiments. He 
made mistakes, but at heart he was generous, merciful and 
true. He lived in the hope of all that was best for hu- 
manity. He desired influence, but only to use it for the 
good of all mankind. 

On the 29th of June General Bolivar again entered 
Caracas in triumph. There were no arches, no strewings 
of flowers nor ringing of bells. The city was as one of 
the dead. There was hardly a white inhabitant in the 
deserted streets. The houses were empty. There were 
pitiful beggars and dead bodies everywhere. Some 
negroes cried, "Vive Colombia!" then all was silent save 
the wails of the famishing. 

But the north was free, and another movement for 
liberty, under a leader as noble, was going on in the 
south. The two leaders would soon be marching toward 
each other, one from the south, one from the north. The 
high Andes was soon to witness the final triumph of the 
cause of each. 

To that movement we will now turn. 




WASHINGTON PLAZA, CARACAS, VENEZUELA. 



CHAPTER X 

ARGENTINA— THE LIBERATING ARMY OF THE SOUTH 

" A A J HAT good airs are here!" exclaimed a Spanish 
V V sailor on landing on the shores of the pampas, in 
the age of the explorers. His exclamation, "Buenos ayres! " 
according to the popular tradition, gave the name to the 
littoral part of that country which became the viceroyalty 
of Buenos Ayres, and is now the Argentine Republic. 
The Spanish viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres occupied a wide 
territory. On the separation of the country from Spain 
this territory came to form, after some changes, the re- 
publics of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and the Banda 
Oriental del Uruguay. It covered an area as large as 
central and western Europe, and its resources and fer- 
tility are such that it might sustain a European population. 
Here the sea, the air, the sky, wear a purple hue ; the flag' 
of Argentina is purple ; and that color so prevails that the 
country has been called " the purple empire that Eng- 
land lost." 

Argentina is the land of the pampas. The sterile plains 
of Patagonia are on one side, and the Gran Chaco, like a 
world's museum of natural history, on the other. Over it 
on the west looms the high Andes, rising in Aconcagua 
to a height of more than twenty thousand feet. Of the 
Cordilleras, whose long, lofty lines of white glimmer above 

119 



120 SOUTH AMERICA 

the pampas, Mr. Darwin says: "The highest peaks 
appear to consist of active, or more commonly dormant, 
volcanoes, such as Tupungato, Maypo and Aconcagua, 
which latter stands twenty-three thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. This grand range has suffered both the 
most violent dislocations, and slow, though powerful, upward 
and downward movements in a mass. I know not whether 
the spectacle of its immense valleys, with mountain masses 
of once liquefied and intrusive rocks now barred and inter- 
sected, or whether the view of the plains, composed of 
shingle and sediment hence derived, which stretch to the 
borders of the Atlantic Ocean, is better adapted to excite 
our astonishment at the amount of wear and tear that 
these mountains have undergone." 

On one side the Argentine, Patagonia has the climate 
of Norway and Sweden. On the other side is the per- 
petual glow of the tropics. In the middle is the subdued 
and ethereal mildness of southern France and of Italy. 
Its agricultural productions, therefore, are diversified and 
almost boundless. 

The wars between England and Spain first broke the 
authority of the viceroys. In June, 1806, General Beres- 
ford landed on the Rio de la Plata, or river Plate, with 
a body of English troops, and took possession of the city 
of Buenos Ayres. Sobremonto, the Spanish viceroy, fled 
to Cordova, where General Liniers gathered an army. 
He defeated Beresford, who surrendered to him in the 
summer of the same year. In February, 1807, Sir Samuel 
Auchmuty stormed the city of Montevideo and captured 
it. In 1808 the English, under General Whitelock, again 
endeavored to take possession of Buenos Ayres. The 
inhabitants made a resistance which was of such a heroic 
character as to have been a favorite subject of romance 



ARGENTINA 121 

and song. The houses of old Buenos Ayres were built 
with large windows, protected by strong iron railings, 
open to the street. For the purpose of defense this made 
the city a great fortress. The low, flat roofs were also 
favorable for repelling an invasion. The English army 
experienced heavy losses and capitulated. 

The resistance to the English invasion inspired the 
people of the country with a sense of their own valor and 
strength. The overturning of the throne of Spain by 
Napoleon gave them the opportunity for self-government. 
They refused to acknowledge the authority of Joseph 
Bonaparte, whom Napoleon had placed on the throne of 
Spain. 

In 1809 Cisneros was made viceroy by the junta of 
Seville, in the name of the deposed Spanish king, Ferdi- 
nand VII. On May 25, 18 10, with the consent of the 
viceroy, a council was formed, which was called the Pro- 
visional Government of the Provinces of the Rio de la 
Plata. This council was the beginning of Argentine inde- 
pendence. An attempt was made by the loyal subjects 
of King Ferdinand to make the viceroy president of the 
council. It failed, and Cisneros retired to Montevideo. 

In 181 3, on the 31st of January, a congress assembled 
at Buenos Ayres, and elected Posadas Dictator of the 
republic. 

The people of Uruguay were still favorable to the cause 
of Ferdinand. The city of Montevideo was attacked by 
the republicans from Buenos Ayres in 18 14, and after a 
siege captured. 

The party of independence grew in Argentina, and 
became a powerful organization on both sides of the river 
Plate. 

On March 25, 18 16, a new congress of deputies, elected 



V22 SOUTH AMERICA 

by the Argentine people, met at Tucuman. Pueyrredon 
was elected President of the republic, and on July 9 the 
independence of Argentina was formally declared, with 
Buenos Ayres as the seat of government. 

But the union of the whole country was not secured. 
Paraguay, Uruguay and what is now Bolivia, after many 
changes of political fortunes, established independent 
governments. Buenos Ayres, from her commanding 
position, excited the jealousy of a part of the Argentine 
Republic. The independence of the country from Spain 
had been proclaimed, and it was rapidly progressing to- 
ward freedom. 

At the period when the cause of South American 
independence in Argentina most needed a directing 
mind, civil and military, there landed on her shores a 
young hero of fame, one born on her own soil, and who 
was destined to be known as the greatest of Creoles — 
Jose de San Martin. He was born on February 25, 
1778, in Yapeyu, Missiones. He was the fourth son of 
the lieutenant-governor of the department of Yapeyu. 
When he was eight years of age he was taken to Spain, 
where he became a pupil in the Seminary of Nobles at 
Madrid. At the age of twelve he was a cadet in white 
and blue. Before he had reached the age of twenty we 
find him in Africa fighting against the Moors. Though 
a lover of peace, he was educated to war, and though he 
became a champion of republicanjirinciples, he was trained 
in the armies of royalty. 

Strangely enough, this young creole, like Bolivar, met 
Miranda, then the ardent apostle of South American liberty, 
in Europe, and fell under his influence. He was one of 
those young men to whom Miranda disclosed the restless 
secret of his political dream. Miranda had established in 
London the Gran Reunion Americana for the emancipa- 



ARGENTINA 1 23 

tion of South America from foreign dominion, and was 
engaged in forming like societies on the Continent. 

Bolivar was to liberate half of the South American con-^ 
tinent ; San Martin was to free the other half from foreign 
dominion. The two followers of Miranda were to meet 
under the glowing arch of the equator, and there clasp 
hands for the first time. 

The life-thought of San Martin was one of the noblest 
that has ever inspired the human breast : 

Thou must be that which thou ought'st to be, 
And without that thou shalt be nothing. 

His life fulfilled this principle. There was a moral 
grandeur in his character that places him in the rank of 
Pericles, Cincinnatus, the Gracchi, and other great leaders 
of the world. What this man's faults and errors were we 
do not know, unless the distribution of medals to the Order 
of the Sun in Peru, which act was called unrepublican, 
be one. It has been said that he held a too conservative 
view of the capability of men for self-government. Be 
this as it may, he gave his sw~ord to the best interests of 
the human race, lived stainlessly, and when he could best 
serve the cause of humanity by retirement and poverty, he 
went into exile. Chili voted to him ten thousand ounces 
of gold, but he refused it, and gave it over to the public 
good. 

On May 25, 18 10, the Argentine government passed 
into the hands of the representatives of the people. A 
junta first exercised the power. This was succeeded by 
a triumvirate. This represented no party, but sought 
only the welfare of the people. A national congress 
proclaimed republican principles. All of these bodies 
acted in the name of the deposed King Ferdinand. 



124 SOUTH AMERICA 

San Martin, on his arrival at Buenos Ayres, began a 
military reform. He was soon called to succeed the emi- 
nent patriot Belgrano in the command of the army. His 
political influence grew. The name of the King of Spain 
disappeared from public affairs. The Inquisition was 
abolished, and the flag of blue and white took the place 
of the colors of the Peninsula. 

San Martin assumed the command of the army. He 
now determined to liberate Chili and Peru. The way to 
Lima from Buenos Ayres had been by the mountain-passes 
of Upper Peru. 

To create an army and to cross the Andes now became 
the first effort of San Martin. With this army he would 
descend, as it were, from the sky, and meet the Spanish 
power as the condor strikes his prey. He would begin 
that march that would not end until he met the patriots 
of the north at the equator. Such was the plan of San 
Martin. 

The work began at Mendoza, at the foot of the Andes. 
Here the army of liberation began to assemble. From this 
point the march which would free South America should v 
begin. He decided that the highway of his army should 
not be by the road to Upper Peru. He would cross the 
Andes by the Uspallata Pass, nearly thirteen thousand 
feet high, would liberate Chili, and pass to Lower Peru. * 
The plan was so bold that he guarded it as a secret. He 
resigned his place as commander of the Army of the North 
to his friend General Alvear, and accepted the appoint- 
ment of governor of Cuzco. Here an army of rugged 
patriots, mountaineers and plainsmen, could be slowly 
formed, men of lofty courage, who would dare to scale 
the pinnacles of the Andes and die for liberty on any 
field. 

On August 10, 1 8 14, he became governor of Cuzco, and 



ARGENTINA 1 25 

from that time his eye was fixed upon the Andes, whose 
forbidding heights towered over him in the sun. He saw 
the way to victory there, in the line of the flight of the 
condor. Would his daring thought ever turn into deeds? 
The purpose of Bolivar amid the ruins of Caracas was 
equaled by that of San Martin. 



CHAPTER XI 

CUZCO— THE BANNER OF THE SUN 

THE province of Cuzco lies under the high Andes. It 
is inhabited by brave and liberty-loving mountain- 
eers. The way to Upper Peru lay through its hills. The 
region is "beautiful, glorious and sublime." The snows 
melt and flow down from the colossal mountain-wall, 
and form crystal lakes. To drink of their pure, clear 
water is to live. The hills roll like billows of land into 
the quiet sea of the plain. The condor wheels in the sky 
as on a motionless wing, a creature that typifies his own 
native wilds amid the peaks of the air. Mendoza, San 
Juan and San Luis were then parts of the province. There 
were some forty thousand inhabitants in the province. 
They were a hard-working, clear-thinking people, of large 
sympathies and of sterling moral worth. 

Here was the road to Chili over the Cordilleras, and also 
that from Chili to Buenos Ayres over the pampas. Here 
bullock-carts lumbered along the unfenced roads. Here 
came and went pack-mules with fruits, flour and wine. 

San Martin was named governor of Cuzco in 1814. He 
lived in republican simplicity. He refused to occupy the 
handsome house offered him by the cabildo (town-meet- 
ing or folkmoot) of Mendoza, and he returned one half 
of his salary in the interests of public economy. He 

126 



cuzco 127 

accepted the position of general in the army only on the 
condition that he should resign it when the service was 
no longer a necessity. 

Chili had gained her liberties, but only to lose them again. 
To free Chili would be, in his opinion, to win the cause of 
liberty for South America. To that cause San Martin now 
gave his heart. To lead an army over the Andes was his 
ambition. Such an army must be one of no ordinary 
men. The virtuous laborers of Cuzco were men who pos- 
sessed uncommon strength of body and soul. San Martin 
began to organize such an army, and to arouse the people 
to a sense of their opportunity. Unpaid volunteers re- 
sponded to his call. The ladies of Mendoza, headed by 
his own wife, cast their jewels into the public treasury 
for the patriotic cause. 

He was a stern disciplinarian, yet his heart was full of 
mercy. One day an officer came to him. " I have done 
wrong. I have lost, in a game, money that was intrusted 
to me for the regiment." San Martin saw that the soul of 
the man had worth, else he would not have made the con- 
fession. " How much have you lost ? " The officer named 
the amount. San Martin handed to him the sum in gold 
coin. " Pay the money back with this," he said, " but keep 
the transaction secret. If I ever hear that you have told 
of it you shall be shot." 

In 181 5 the republicans met with disasters in Upper 
Peru and in Colombia. One day when San Martin was 
dining with his officers he offered a toast : " To the first 
shot fired beyond the Andes against the tyrants of Chili ! " 
The toast expressed the one purpose of his soul, the re- 
conquest of Chili for the cause of universal liberty. 

Over Chili Abascal was viceroy, and Osorio there led 
the Spanish army. Abascal ruled with an iron hand, with- 
out justice or mercy. The people cried in secret for de- 



128 SOUTH AMERICA 

liverance. The leader of the Chilian patriots was Manuel 
Rodriguez. He secretly organized volunteers, who were 
to await an opportunity to rise. 

In 1816 San Martin, under the sanction of the Tucuman 
Congress, began to form the Army of the Andes. The 
expenses of the army were in part sustained by patriotic 
subscriptions. Some who could not give money gave 
labor. 

The Benjamin Franklin of this period of preparation, 
when the genius of effective organization was a most im- 
portant factor, was Luis Beltran, a mendicant friar. He 
was one of those patriotic priests who, from the time of 
the reaction against the cruelty of Spain in Lima to the 
awakening of Mexico under Hidalgo, repudiated the orders 
of their superiors. This man, strange as it may seem, 
became the Vulcan of the new army, and was assigned to 
the charge of the forges and the mechanical works. He 
was a native of Mendoza. He had joined the patriots in 
Chili, and had served as an artilleryman there. After 
the defeat of the patriots he returned to Cuzco " with a 
bag of tools of his own making on his shoulders." 

He became a chaplain in the new Army of thcAndes. 
His nobility as a patriot and his genius as a mechanic were 
recognized by San Martin. The latter commanded him 
to establish an arsenal, an extraordinary assignment to a 
chaplain. Friar Beltran found himself at the head of a 
military school of three hundred workmen, whom he taught 
to cast cannon, shot and shell, and to melt down church 
bells for the new march of liberty. He unfrocked himself 
in 18 1 6, and put on the uniform of an officer of the artil- 
lery. " He became," says Mitre, " the Archimedes of the 
Army of the Andes." 

The new year, 181 7, had come to Mendoza. A new 
light was kindling on the peaks. The 17th of January 



cuzcd 129 

was a high holiday in the beautiful town. The Army of 
the Andes, before it was to begin its march over the 
Andes, was to pass in review before San Martin. The 
women of Mendoza were to present to the army a flag 
which they had made. The flag bore the emblem of the 
Sun. The town of Mendoza was filled with banners. The 
army marched in amid the firing of cannon and the roll- 
ing of drums. The flag of the Sun was committed by the 
patriotic ladies into the hands of San Martin. The general 
mounted a platform in the great square, and waving the 
flag, amid a thrill of enthusiasm, exclaimed : " Behold 
the first flag of independence which has been blessed in 
America!" A shout oi"Vive la patria! '" rent the air. 
"Soldiers, swear to maintain it, as I now do!" Twenty- 
five guns saluted the flag. Mitre says this flag was raised 
for " the redemption of the half of South America which 
passed the Cordilleras. It waved in triumph along the 
Pacific coast, floated over the foundations of two new re- 
publics, aided in the liberation of another, and after sixty 
years served as the funeral pall to the body of the hero who 
had delivered it to the care of the immortal Army of the 
Andes." 

Martin Giiemes, the Gaucho horseman of the plains, 
who had made for himself a name in the re-conquest of 
Buenos Ayres, had protected the first patriot army on the 
invasion of Alta Peru. He now became a power. His 
wild horsemen breathed the spirit of liberty. They had 
inhaled it from the air of the plains, under the gleaming 
peaks. They knew how to cover and shield and prepare 
the way for the vanguard of an army in the sierra. 

Giiemes found his field at Salta, a province of the 
patriots under the mountain-wall. Salta at this time was 
a part of Jujuy, among the spurs of the Andes which bor- 
der the ranges of Upper Peru. Through it was the high- 



I30 SOUTH AMERICA 

way from the plains to the mountains, from the tropical to 
the temperate zone. It was an agricultural province. The 
people were a rugged race. They were brave, and lovers of 
freedom. The blow of these mountaineers was a hammer- 
stroke. They flew, as it were, on their trained horses, 
and, as they came and went with the speed of the wind, 
landed their shots with unerring aim. 

Guemes and his Gauchos became a terror to the roy- 
alists. They guarded the mountain ways, and their swift 
movements were like thunderbolts from the mountain 
clouds. 

Guemes, for his intrepid movements and daring adven- 
tures in the patriot cause, was assigned places of honor by 
San Martin, and became the Gaucho or cavalry hero of 
the spurs of the Andes. "He- was made governor of Salta, 
and held the office from May, 1815, to May, 1820. His 
death was tragic. In 1821, while he was absent from the 
city, Salta was surprised and captured by the royalists. 
He returned home at night, not knowing that the place 
was in the enemy's hands. He rode into the public square 
and was met with a volley of shot. He was severely 
wounded, but rode away bleeding and dying. He died 
some days after this last swift ride of death. His deeds 
were long celebrated by the Gaucho minstrels, as the wan- 
dering musicians of the plains were called. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE BATTLE OF MAYPO— CHILI— PERU— THE MEETING 
OF THE TWO LIBERATORS— ABNEGATION AND MORAL 
HEROISM OF SAN MARTIN 

THE five great battles that decided South American 
independence were Boyaca, Maypo, Carabobo, Pi- 
chincha and Ayacucho. Of these Boyaca and Maypo are 
the most famous. Of these two Maypo is that which has 
more interested the world. It was a battle won by the 
power of the human will; it was fought according to 
the laws of military science and amid the most stupen- 
dous mountain scenery ; its thunders, like an earthquake, 
shattered the Spanish power in South America. The 
scene of the battle, with its mountain towers, was not only 
one of the most majestic in the world, but the meeting 
and clash of the two armies were attended by thrilling 
events. Here liberty and despotism measured their forces, 
and the old civilization of the foreign kings went down. 
It was fought on April 5, 18 18. The royal army num- 
bered fifty- five hundred men, and was led by Osorio. 
The army of the patriots was nearly as large. It was filled 
with the spirit of victory, which it caught from its general, 
who was as constant to his purpose under reverses as in 
the hours following victory. 

From Santiago there runs a succession of white hills, 

131 



132 SOUTH AMERICA 

called Lorna Blanca, overlooking desert lands, and over- 
looked by the majestic range of mountains out of which 
rises Aconcagua. On one crest of this Lorna, at a place 
that commanded the roads to the passes of the Maypo and 
to Santiago, the patriot army was encamped. In front of 
it rose another ridge, which was occupied by the royalist 
army. 

The patriot army was placed in three divisions : one, 
under the command of Las Heras, on the right ; the second, 
under Lavarado, on the left; and in the rear the reserve, 
commanded by Quintana. The infantry was commanded 
by Belcarce, while San Martin himself commanded the 
cavalry. 

Below the Lorna ran the Maypo, with its mountain 
waters and its forests. As the first light of the morning 
illumined the mountains, San Martin rode to the edge of 
the Lorna to survey the movements of the royal army. 
It began to occupy the high ground in front of the patriot 
army. As San Martin had feared that it might take a 
position near the road to Valparaiso for the purpose of 
retreat, he said to his officers : " I take the sun to witness 
that the day is ours!" As he spoke, there swept over the 
desert, river and white crests of the Andes the beams of 
the cloudless sun. As the men beheld it they saw the 
banner of the Sun. The event seemed prophetic. At 
ten o'clock the eventful march of the patriot army began. 
" A half-hour will decide the fate of Chili," said San Martin. 

The royalist general Osorio made a movement to the 
west to protect the road of retreat to Valparaiso, a road 
that he would soon need. The white crest of the Lorna 
was filled with his glittering infantry. His cannon were 
brought into position. There was a brief silence in the 
hills, and then San Martin gave the order to the infantry 
to advance. 



THE BATTLE OF MAYPO 1 33 

After the preliminary attacks San Martin ordered an 
oblique movement so as to fall upon the flank of the 
Spanish infantry. This was done with the greatest im- 
petuosity, and was supported by the reserves. The royal 
infantry stood firm. The Chilian cavalry had driven back 
the royal cavalry, and it now turned to the support of this 
oblique movement of the left. The onset was overwhelm- 
ing. Osorio gave orders to retreat, and himself fled to a 
farm-house, leaving Ordenez in command. The royal army 
made a stand at the place called the farm-house of Espejo, 
but its spirit was lost. The patriots closely pursued it, 
flushed with the certainty of complete victory. ' The royal- 
ists sought refuge in the vineyards from terrible onslaughts. 

The thunder of the carnage ceased. Ordenez asked for 
an interview with Las Heras. He surrendered his sword. 
Osorio fled toward Valparaiso. The victory was complete. 
The royalist army lost 1000 men killed, 150 officers and 
2000 men prisoners. Its guns, flags and equipments 
all fell into the hands of the patriots. The army of 
liberation lost 1000 men in killed and wounded. Osorio 
reached the coast with fourteen men._ 

Victory crowned the banner of the Sun. The inde- 
pendence of Chili was won. The words of San Martin, 
spoken as the sun shone over the white crests of the Andes 
in the early morning, " I take the sun to witness that the 
day is ours!" were prophetic. 

The couriers rushed down the Andes to Mendoza with 
the news of the victory. They bore it across the pampas 
to Buenos Ayres, to fill that city with joy. 

Argentina and Chili were free. The triumphal march 
of liberty must now be toward Peru. For this final 
achievement of the army of the liberation the way must 
be made by the sea. Five days after the battle of Maypo, 
San Martin crossed the mountains to lay before the govern- 



134 SOUTH AMERICA 

ment of Buenos Ayres a plan for the liberation of Peru. 
The Dictator of Argentina, Don Juan Martin de Pueyrre- 
don, sustained the plan of San Martin, which was a naval 
expedition from Valparaiso. San Martin returned to Chili 
and assembled a new army for the liberation of Peru. A 
large part of the soldiers for this expedition were citizens 
of the Argentine Republic. Sixty-two of the officers 
were Europeans, and Lieutenant Charles Eldridge, Captain 
Henry Ross and Captain Daniel L. N. Carson were from 
the United States. 

The Spanish viceroy of Peru had an army of about 
twenty thousand men. 

The patriot fleet was commanded by Lord Cochrane, a 
British admiral, who arrived at Valparaiso in November, 
1818. After two ineffectual attempts to reduce Callao, 
the fleet again sailed for Peru with San Martin's army, 
August, 1820. Lord Cochrane's first victory was the 
cutting out of the Esmeralda, under the guns of Callao, 
on the night of the 5th of November. 

The viceroy, La Serna, retired with his forces to Cuzco. 
San Martin entered Lima. Peru proclaimed ,her inde- 
pendence on July 28, 1821. San Martin was appointed 
the Protector of the state. 

There are two anecdotes related by General Mitre, the 
first constitutional President of Argentina, in his " History _ 
of San Martin," that reveal the character of that hero. 

On the morning march along the Lorna, Marshal Brayer 
forced himself upon San Martin. u I am suffering from 
my old wound. I want your permission to retire at once 
to the baths of Colma." " Marshal, a half-hour will de- 
cide the fate of Chili. The enemy is in sight. The baths 
are thirteen leagues away. Your place is here." " But 
the old wound is in such a condition that I cannot go on." 
" Sefior," said San Martin, "the lowest drummer in the 



THE BATTLE OF MAYPO 1 35 

army has more honor than you." He sent word to Bel- 
carce, the commander of the infantry : " Announce to 
the army that Marshal Brayer is cashiered for conduct 
unworthy of an officer!" The order was a moral death. 

The other anecdote is this : Of the abundant trophies 
of victory San Martin kept for himself only one. It was 
a portfolio which contained the secret letters of the fugitive 
Osorio. These letters revealed those who were true and 
those who were false to the patriotic cause. He must 
open these letters for the sake of the cause. He sat down 
under the shade of a tree and read the contents of the 
portfolio. Some of the letters, indeed, disclosed secret 
disloyalty to Chili. After reading them he dropped them 
one by one into the fire. He never disclosed their con- 
tents. They were not his, except for the purpose of pro- 
tecting the cause. He was seeking no personal revenge, 
but only the welfare of mankind. 

Captain Basil Hall met San Martin in Lima, and he left 
in his journal some pen-pictures of the hero of Maypo. 
Says Captain Hall: " On the 25th of June I had an inter- 
view with General San Martin on board a little schooner 
anchored in Callao roads. . . . There was little at first sight 
in his appearance to engage attention, but when he rose 
and began to speak, his great superiority over every other 
person I had seen in South America was sufficiently ap- 
parent. He received us in a very homely style, on the 
deck of his vessel, dressed in a surtout coat and a large 
fur cap, seated at a table made of a few loose planks laid 
along the top of two empty casks. 

"... Several persons came on board privately from 
Lima to discuss the state of affairs, upon which occasion 
his views and feelings were distinctly stated. I saw no- 
thing in his conduct afterward to cast a doubt upon the 
sincerity with which he then spoke. ' The contest in 



136 SOUTH AMERICA 

Peru,' he said, ' was not of an ordinary description; not a 
war of conquest and glory, but entirely of opinion. It 
was a war of new and liberal principles against prejudice, 
bigotry and tyranny. People ask why I do not march to 
Lima at once; so I might, and instantly would, were it 
suitable to my views, which it is not. I do not want 
military renown. I have no ambition to be conqueror of 
Peru. I want solely to liberate the country from oppres- 
sion. Of what use would Lima be to me if the inhabi- 
tants were hostile in political sentiment? How could the 
cause of independence be advanced by my holding Lima, 
or even the whole country, in military possession? Far 
different are my views. I wish to have all thinking men 
with me, and do not choose to advance a step beyond the 
march of public opinion. ... I have been gaining day 
by day fresh allies in the hearts of the people, the only 
certain allies in such a war.' " 

These anecdotes reveal the motives and character of 
San Martin. 

In 1822 there occurred at Guayaquil one of the most 
notable events in human history, namely, the meeting of 
the two liberators, Bolivar and San Martin. The conduct 
of San Martin at this memorable meeting reveals his true 
greatness. Modern history has few examples that are 
comparable to it, and none that surpasses it. 

Bolivar was now " arbiter of the destiny of South 
America." San Martin recognized this fact. He per- 
ceived, moreover, that Bolivar could now accomplish the 
liberation of the whole country better without than with 
his assistance. Was San Martin, after creating the Army 
of the Andes and leading the army of emancipation to 
Peru, willing to subordinate his personal interests to the 
cause of liberty ? Did the hero of the Andes rise to the 
high demands of an occasion like this ? 



MEETING OF THE TWO LIBERATORS 1 37 

Bolivar came to Guayaquil with some fifteen hundred 
men. He entered the city under arches of triumph. On 
the 25th of July San Martin arrived by sea on the ship 
Macedonia. He landed and passed through files of soldiers 
to the house where the Liberator of the north was await- 
ing him. The two heroes met for the first time. They 
embraced, and entered the house arm in arm, and were 
left alone. What occurred no one can tell, but it was an 
hour of abnegation to San Martin. During it he resolved 
to leave South America and go into exile for the good of 
the cause of the liberties of the Andes. 

A great ball was given to the two heroes. It was pre- 
ceded by a banquet. Bolivar loved festive and joyous 
scenes. San Martin wished to avoid them. He was a 
serene, philosophical man. Accustomed to great events 
amid sublime scenery, banquets and balls seemed trivial to 
him. But he proposed a toast on this occasion. It was : 
"To the speedy end of the war; to the organization of 
the 1 different republics ; and to the health of the Liberator 
of Colombia!" 

After leaving Guayaquil San Martin expressed this 
opinion of Bolivar : " He is the most extraordinary char- 
acter of South America, one of those to whom difficulties 
only add strength." 

On his return to Peru San Martin wrote to Bolivar: 
" My decision is irrevocable. I have convened the Con- 
gress of Peru ; the day after its meeting I shall leave for 
Chili, believing that my presence is the only obstacle that 
keeps you from coming to Peru with your army." 

The final declaration of the abdication of San Martin is 
worthy to be written in letters of gold : " The presence 
of a fortunate general in the country which he has con- 
quered is detrimental to the state. I have achieved the 
independence of Peru. I cease to be a public man!" 



138 SOUTH AMERICA 

He to whom had been offered ten thousand ounces of 
gold now took some three thousand dollars, crossed the 
Andes, and with his daughter Mercedes went to Europe, 
and lived there in poverty and neglect for nearly thirty 
years. 

When the republics that he had liberated at last recalled 
his true greatness, they brought his body to Argentina, 
and crpwned the dead hero. The tomb of San Martin 
forms a part of the cathedral of Buenos Ayres, and is one 
of the most beautiful in the western world. 

Truly says General Mitre : " History records not in her 
pages an act of self-abnegation executed with more con- 
scientiousness and greater modesty." 

" I desire that my heart shall rest in Buenos Ayres," 
said San Martin. His heart is forever embalmed in the 
hearts of the people of Buenos Ayres. 




MAUSOLEUM OF SAN MARTIN, IN BUENOS AYRES. 



CHAPTER XIII 

AYACUCHO, THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF SOUTH AMER- 
ICA—ITS DRAMATIC AND THRILLING EVENTS — BO- 
LIVIA—THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRANCE OF BOLIVAR 
INTO POTOSI 

THE decisive battle of South American liberty was 
that of Ayacucho. The Army of the North found 
its decisive fields at Boyaca and Carabobo ; the Army of 
the South at Maypo. The united and central army of 
Upper Peru, commanded by General Sucre, completed at 
Ayacucho the work of Bolivar in the north and of San 
Martin in the south. The royalist forces in this battle 
were led by the viceroy of Peru, La Serna. He was 
overthrown. With his defeat the Spanish power in South 
America was brought to an end. 

The events leading up to this decisive victory are 
among the most dramatic and thrilling in history. In 
1823 General Bolivar, leaving the presidency of the newly 
founded Republic of Colombia to Vice-President Santander, 
at Bogota, embarked at Guayaquil for Peru. His purpose 
was to complete the work of South American indepen- 
dence. He landed in Callao on September 1, 1823, and 
was received with acclamations. Shortly after, he entered 
Lima amid the joy of the people. He recruited the 
Peruvian army, and marched from Lima in the second 

139 



140 SOUTH AMERICA 

week of November. His principal generals in this cam- 
paign were the chivalrous Sucre and the heroic English 
soldier William Miller. 

There were patriots of many lands in this new army of 
liberation. Some of them had fought at Maypo and 
Boyaca; some had followed the eagles of France under 
Napoleon, others the cross of St. George under Welling- 
ton. Many had fought under San Martin. General 
Miller was the chief of staff of the Peruvian army. 

There are men who become the souls of great organi- 
zations. Such a man was Jose de Antonio Sucre, whom 
Bolivar called the " soul of the army." He was born at 
Cumana, Venezuela, February 3, 1 795. He was a military 
student of Caracas. While yet a youth he espoused the 
patriot cause. He was given a position upon the staff of 
General Miranda. He joined the invading forces under 
Marino, and in 18 14 those of Bolivar. After the tempo- 
rary defeat of the patriot cause Sucre took refuge in Trini- 
dad. On Bolivar's landing in Venezuela in 18 16 Sucre 
again joined the patriot forces. In 1818 Bolivar commis- 
sioned him to secure arms in the West Indies. Sucre 
pledged his own fortune for the payment of the arms. He 
returned with nearly ten thousand stands of arms and 
twelve cannon. Bolivar made him chief of staff. Sucre 
put his whole soul into the reorganization of the patriot 
army. He inspired the troops in the victorious invasion 
of New Granada in 18 19. He led the movement south 
to Quito. In 1 82 1 he landed at Guayaquil to protect the 
patriot government that had been established there. He 
marched upon Quito, and on May 24, 1822, won a great 
battle at Pichincha. This victory ended the Spanish power 
in Ecuador. The new republic joined the United States 
of Colombia. Sucre, steadily rising by merit, was made 
ma'or-general and intendant of the department of Quito. 



THE DECISIVE BATTLE 141 

In 1823 he led a part of the army of Colombia for the lib- 
eration of Peru. He refused the chief command of the 
army, but awaited the arrival of Bolivar in Peru. 

Bolivar was made Dictator of Peru. At the beginning 
of the campaign his force consisted of six thousand Colom- 
bians and four thousand Peruvians. The liberating army 
concentrated at Huaraz, in the ancient land of the Incas. 
At this place among the high Andes, General Miller, who 
had done brilliant service on the coast, for the first time 
met General Bolivar. The day after this meeting General 
Miller was appointed commandant-general of the Peru- 
vian cavalry, which was composed of intrepid mountaineers. 
The beautiful valley of Huaraz became the scene of the 
preparation for the great campaign against the last of 
the viceroys. 

The royalist chiefs had gained advantages since the 
campaign of San Martin. They hoped in this campaign 
to overthrow Bolivar, to regain Peru, and to reestablish the 
South American viceroyalties. The viceroy entered upon 
the war in Upper Peru confident of victory. He seemed 
to think that it was the will of destiny that the viceroys of 
Spain should be successful, and that the banner of Spain 
should again wave in triumph over the lands of the Incas. 

In the " Life of General Miller " is a description of the 
review of the patriot army by General Bolivar : " On the 
2d of August Bolivar reviewed his forces, nine thousand 
strong, on the plain between Rancas and Pasco. The 
troops were well appointed, and made a really brilliant 
appearance. An energetic address from the Liberator 
was read to each corps at the same moment, and pro- 
duced indescribable enthusiasm. Nothing could exceed 
the excitement felt upon that occasion. Every circum- 
stance tended to impart a most romantic interest to the 
scene. Near the same spot, four years before, the royal- 



142 SOUTH AMERICA 

ists had been defeated by General Arenales. The view 
from the table-land, upon which the troops were reviewed, 
and which is at an elevation of more than twelve thousand 
feet above the level of the sea, is perhaps the most mag- 
nificent in the world. On the west arose the Andes, which 
had just been surmounted with so much toil. On the 
east were enormous ramifications of the Cordilleras, stretch- 
ing toward Brazil. North and south the view was bounded 
by mountains whose tops were hidden in the clouds. On 
that plain, surrounded by such sublime scenery, and on 
the margin of the most magnificent lake of Reyes, the 
principal source of the Amazon, the mightiest of rivers, 
were now assembled men from Caracas, Panama, Quito, 
Lima, Chili and Buenos Ayres ; men who had fought at 
Maypo in Chili, at San Lorenzo on the banks of the 
Parana, at Carabobo in Venezuela, and at Pichincha at 
the foot of the Chimborazo. Amid those devoted Amer- 
icans were a few foreigners, still firm and faithful to 
the cause in support of which so many of their country- 
men had fallen. Among those few survivors were men 
who had fought on the banks of the Guadiana and of the 
Rhine, who had witnessed the conflagration of Moscow 
and the capitulation of Paris. Such were the men as- 
sembled at what might be considered a fresh starting- 
point in the career of glory. American or European, 
they were all animated by one sole spirit, that of assuring 
the political existence of a vast continent. The exhila- 
rating vivas of the troops filled every breast with ardor 
and prophetic hope." 

The two armies had their first encounter at Junin, a 
battle of the saber and lance, at which no shot was fired. 
The patriots had the advantage, and Bolivar, seeing that 
final victory in the field was assured, retired from the 
army, and gave himself to the demands of state. 



THE DECISIVE BATTLE 1 43 

The viceroy took command of the army of some thir- 
teen thousand men in the historic province of Cuzco, the 
scene of the Incarial capital. General Miller and his 
mountaineers led the van of the patriots. The two armies 
met on the hills and plain of Ayacucho. The liberating 
army was drawn up on the plain, and the royalists on the 
summit of a ridge. 

The night before the battle, on the results of which 
hung the cause of South America and the destiny of 
Spain in the lands the viceroys had despoiled, was one of 
the deepest anxiety. The army of the viceroy was much 
larger than that of the liberators, and it was confident of 
success. 

The morning of December 9, 1824, dawned bright and 
clear on the stupendous mountain-peaks of the province 
of Cuzco. There was a mountain chilliness in the first 
purple light, but when the sun burst forth over the valley, 
a genial warmth made nature as lovely as in the days of 
the great Inca festivals. The patriots beheld in the bright- 
ness of the day a favorable omen, like that of Maypo. 

The royalist army appeared on the hills. The viceroy 
was at its head. It descended through the craggy ravines 
with the step of expectant victory. 

General Sucre rode along the line of the patriot army. 
He felt the full responsibility of the hour. He wheeled 
and faced the army at a central point, and, raising his 
voice to a trumpet-tone, he said : " Soldiers, on what 
we do to-day depends the destiny of South America! " 
He turned his face to the enemy descending the hills. 
He pointed to the banners of Spain. " Soldiers, another 
day of glory is to crown your constancy to the cause of 
liberty!" 

Vivas answered the address. The men felt that the 
day of destiny had indeed arrived. They waited the shock 



144 SOUTH AMERICA 

with hearts that beat high for their own cause and the 
cause of liberty in the world. The Spanish army had 
reached the plain. "Cordova, advance!" commanded 
Sucre. 

General Cordova leaped from his horse, and placed 
himself some fifteen yards in front of his division of heroes. 
He lifted his hat, and exclaimed : "Adelante, paso de vence- 
dores ! " (" Forward, with the step of conquerors! ") 

The men advanced. Their hearts were filled with the 
valor that knows no defeat. They launched themselves 
upon the Spanish bayonets as though life was naught. 
The onset was irresistible. 

The army of the viceroy was shattered. The viceroy 
himself was wounded and was taken prisoner. Nothing 
could stand before the spirit of the patriots. The royal- 
ists rushed to the cover of the hills, falling on every side 
under the fire of the patriot artillery and the charges of the 
cavalry. Their cause was lost forever. 

The battle lasted but one hour. It is the greatest in its 
valor and results in South American history. In that 
single hour fourteen hundred royalists were killed and 
seven hundred wounded. They left their artillery on the 
field. At sunset the royalist general sued for terms, and 
entered the tent of Sucre to sign the articles of capitu- 
lation. 

At midnight General Miller went to see the fallen vice- 
roy. His biographer thus records the memorable inter- 
view: 

" About midnight he visited the captive viceroy, General 
La Serna, who had been placed in one of the best of the 
miserable habitations of Quinua. When Miller entered he 
found the viceroy sitting on a bench, and leaning against 
the mud wall of the hut. A feeble glimmering from the 
wick of a small earthen lamp threw just enough light 



THE DECISIVE BATTLE 145 

around to render visible his features, which were shaded 
by his white hair, still partially clotted with blood from 
the wound he had received. His person, tall, and at all 
times dignified, now appeared most venerable and inter- 
esting. The attitude, the situation and the scene were pre- 
cisely those which an historical painter would have chosen 
to represent the dignity of fallen greatness. Reflecting on 
the vicissitudes of fortune, it may be imagined with what 
feelings Miller advanced toward the man who, but a few 
hours previously, had exercised a kingly power. The vice- 
roy was the first to speak, and holding out his hand, said : 
' You, general, we all know full well. We have always con- 
sidered you as a personal friend, notwithstanding all the 
mischief you have done, and the state of alarm in which you 
have so repeatedly kept us. In spite of my misfortunes, I 
rejoice to see you.' The viceroy afterward observed that a 
sentry had been placed, as he supposed by some mistake, in 
the same room with him, and that in the confusion and hurry 
of the time his own wound had not even been washed. 
General Miller immediately ordered the guard outside, and 
sent for a surgeon. When the wound was dressed, Miller, 
in tendering his further services, told the viceroy that the 
only refreshment he had it in his power to offer was a 
little tea, which he happened to have with him, and which 
he believed no other person in the army could supply. 
The viceroy, enfeebled by loss of blood, appeared to 
revive at the very mention of this beverage. He said : 
' It is, indeed, the only thing I could now take. One 
cup of it would reanimate and keep me from sinking.' 
When the tea was brought, the venerable viceroy drank it 
with eagerness, and was perhaps more grateful for this sea- 
sonable relief than for any other kindness or favor he had 
ever received. He expressed his acknowledgments in the 
warmest terms to Miller, who felt peculiar gratification in 



146 SOUTH AMERICA 

having it in his power to pay this small attention to the 
distinguished prisoner. He had been long before informed 
that the viceroy had repeatedly declared that, in the event 
of his (Miller's) being taken prisoner, he should be treated 
as a brother {como hermand), and furnished with ample 
means to return to his own country, the only condition 
meant to be imposed upon him." 

The patriot army entered Cuzco in triumph on Christ- 
mas day, 1824. The battle crowned the plans of Boli- 
var for the emancipation of South America. He was now 
at the height of his power, the hero of the continent, and 
hailed wherever he went as being more a god than a man. 
Who that saw him in these fortunate days could have be- 
lieved that his heart would ever be crushed again? 

The greatest honors of his life now awaited him. The 
provinces of Upper Peru had once formed a part of the 
viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. The Argentine Republic 
now relinquished its claim, and left this land of the valleys, 
of the mountains and the sky to follow its own will, either 
to incorporate itself with the republic of Peru, or to remain 
as a part of the republic of Argentina, or to form a separate 
government, as it chose. The people elected a delibera- 
tive assembly. This met at Chuquisaca in 1825, and de- 
cided that Upper Peru, the land of the Incas and high 
Andes, should become a free and independent nation. 
What should be its name? The gratitude of the people 
would find expression in one that would associate the 
name of the new nation with that of the Liberator. The 
new republic was called Bolivia. The name was hailed 
with rejoicing by the sisterhood of republics. 

The assembly voted a million dollars to General Bolivar 
as a reward for his services. Bolivar, like San Martin, did 
not covet money. He gave a large portion of his own 
private fortune to the patriot cause. He accepted the gift 



THE DECISIVE BATTLE 147 

of the new republic only on the condition that the money 
should be used for the emancipation of slaves in Bolivia. 

The Congress of Lima in 1825 elected General Bolivar 
perpetual Dictator. He now made a journey through the 
high provinces of the new republics. He was hailed with 
salvos of artillery, the vivas of the people, the ringing of 
bells and scattering of flowers. He entered Cuzco in 
triumph. Such a day had probably never been seen since 
the festivals of the Incas. His reception at Potosi reads 
like a poem. When two leagues from the city he met 
the first of a number of triumphal arches that recorded 
his deeds and his glory. About these arches were gath- 
ered Indians in festal dress, with plumes and ornaments, 
who danced after the manner of their joyous festivals. The 
dancers and their chiefs wore medals on which was 
stamped the head of Bolivar. He was met by the lead- 
ing citizens on horseback, preceded by the alcaldes with 
gilded staffs. These were followed by the clergy in 
festal robes. The cerro, or highland, «of Potosi is very 
grand and commanding. As soon as Bolivar came into 
view of it, the flags of the republics of Peru, Buenos 
Ayres, Chili and Colombia were, at the same moment, 
unrolled to the sun. As he entered the town, twenty- 
one powerful shells were exploded, the report of which 
was equal to that of "six twenty-four pounders." The 
bells rang; the windows were draped in silk and festooned 
with flowers. The balconies were thronged with ladies. 
The shouts of fifty thousand people rent the air. He came 
to the government palace. A great arch rose before it. 
From this two children dressed in white, representing 
angels, were let down as from the skies, and each pro- 
nounced before him poetic orations. In the flower-strewn 
halls he was crowned with laurels by the ladies of Potosi. 
A grand Te Deum followed in the church, to which he 



I48 SOUTH AMERICA 

was conducted amid salvos of artillery. He was seated^ 
under a canopy. 

General Sucre was with Bolivar on the day of his tri- 
umph at Potosi. A constitution was formed for Bolivia, 
called the "Code Boliviano." Under it General Sucre 
was elected President. The Code Boliviano was accepted 
by Peru, under the influence of Bolivar, and under it 
Bolivar was elected Presidente vitalicio. 

Bolivar departed for Colombia to enter upon a larger 
scheme for humanity than had yet engaged the powers 
of his sympathetic heart and mind, the peace and unity 
Congress of Panama. 

The armies of the north and of the south and the 
central army were now triumphant. What South America 
needed was that political education that would bring sta- 
bility to the republics. 

Bolivar perceived it. The Congress of Panama would 
suggest to the sisterhood of republics their way to the 
highest destiny. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE PANAMA CONGRESS OF 1 826 — THE UNION AND 
PEACE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS— THE LAST 
DAYS OF SIMON BOLIVAR 

IN the year 1826 there assembled at Panama an inter- 
national congress that was a prophecy of the future, 
a political prevision. It was convened by Simon Bolivar, 
liberator, conqueror, protector, president, then at the 
height of his political power. In Bolivar's opinion the 
time had come for all American republics to form one 
congress for the protection of the liberties and peace of 
the republics of the western world. 

The congress was in a sense a failure, but it was a sug- 
gestion. The twentieth century was in it. The Inter- 
national American Conference of 1890 was an outcome 
of it. 

The nature and purpose of this congress were expressed 
by Mr. Conas, of the republics of Central America, in these 
words : " Europe has formed a continental system, and 
holds a congress whenever questions affecting its interests 
are to be discussed. America should have a similar sys- 
tem." 

The Congress of Panama in 1826 was first planned by 
Bolivar to secure the union of the Spanish- American 
republics against Spain. The Monroe Doctrine had placed 

149 



15O SOUTH AMERICA 

the United States in an unequivocal position in such 
matters. The Northern republic was included in the 
invitation of the Liberator to unite in the congress. 

In a paper written in 1815, in exile, called his "Pro- 
phetic Letter," Bolivar thus expresses his hopes: " How 
grand would it be if the Isthmus of Panama could be to 
us what Corinth was to the Greeks ! God grant that we 
may some day have the fortune of convening there an 
august congress of the representatives of the republics, 
kingdoms and empires to discuss the all-important inter- 
ests of peace and war with the nations of the world! " 

He was then President of Colombia. He caused invi- 
tations to such a congress to be issued to the govern- 
ments of the Spanish-American states, and subsequently 
to the United States. Said Bolivar : " The states from 
Panama to Guatemala may form a union. The magnificent 
position of America, situated between the two oceans, will 
in due time make it the emporium of the universe. Its 
canals will shorten the distance which separates the nations 
of the earth." 

The general assembly of American republics met at 
Panama on June 22, 1826. Colombia, Central America, 
Peru and Mexico were represented at the first meeting. 
Great Britain sent agents to study the proceedings. The 
assembly held ten meetings. The result is described in 
the following resolution which was passed : 

" The republics of Colombia, Central America, Peru 
and the Mexican states do mutually ally and confederate 
themselves in peace and war in a perpetual compact, the 
object of which shall be to maintain the sovereignty and 
independence of the confederated powers against foreign 
subjection, and to secure the enjoyment of unalterable 
peace." 

A long series of resolutions was adopted. The outcome 



LAST DAYS OF SIMON BOLIVAR 15 1 

of the congress, however, did not meet the expectations 
of Bolivar. 

Let us now turn to the last sad years of this brilliant 
man. 

"The fate of the emancipators of South America," says 
General Mitre, " is tragical. The first revolutionists of 
La Paz and of Quito died on the scaffold. Miranda, the 
apostle of liberty, betrayed by his own people to his 
enemies, died, alone and naked, in a dungeon. Moreno, 
the priest of the Argentine revolution, and the teacher of 
the democratic idea, died at sea, and found a grave in the 
ocean. Hidalgo, the first popular leader of Mexico, was 
executed as a criminal. Belgrano, the first champion of 
Argentine independence, who saved the revolution at 
Tucuman and Salta, died obscurely, while civil war raged 
round him. O'Higgins, the hero of Chili, died in exile, 
as Carrera, his rival, had done before him. Iturbide, the 
real liberator of Mexico, fell a victim to his own ambition. 
Montufar, the leader of the revolution in Quito, and his 
comrade Villavicencio, the promoter of that of Cartagena, 
were strangled. The first presidents of New Granada, 
Lozano and Torres, fell sacrifices to the restoration of 
colonial terrorism. Piar, who found the true base for the 
insurrection in Colombia, was shot by Bolivar, to whom 
he had shown the way to victory. Rivadavia, the civil 
genius of South America, who gave form to her represen- 
tative institutions, died in exile. Sucre, the conqueror of 
Ayacucho, was murdered by his own men on a lonely 
road. Bolivar and San Martin died in banishment." 

In January, 1830, Bolivar, accused by his enemies of 
personal ambition, resigned the presidency for the fifth 
time. He was reelected. In Colombia there was a power- 
ful disunion party which he endeavored to overcome. Its 
principles set at naught the visions and high ambitions of 



152 SOUTH AMERICA 

his thrilling life. The disunionists were powerful in the 
Colombian Congress. They voted to accept his proffered 
resignation, and to bestow upon him a pension of three 
thousand dollars a year on the condition that he should 
reside abroad. The resolution broke his heart. The unity 
of Colombia and South America seemed to be shattered by 
it. He sent his final resignation to Congress on April 27, 
1830. He left Bogota and went to Caracas on May 9, 
with the intention of embarking from Cartagena for Eng- 
land, to go into exile there. Grief and disappointment 
wore upon him. His health failed. The sword had been 
too sharp for the scabbard. He went to Santa Marta to 
visit the bishop there, who was his friend. At Cartagena 
he had heard of the unhappy death of Sucre. The friends 
of Bolivar called upon him to put himself at the head of a 
new movement and restore the union of Colombia. But 
his malady was fatal. At Santa Marta he breathed the 
fresh sea-air, and recalled the events of his life from the 
oath at Rome to the triumphal arches of Potosi. At the 
quinta of San Pedro, seven miles from Santa Marta, came 
the last pathetic scene. Seated in an arm-chair, and wait- 
ing to receive the last rites of the church, he dictated an 
address to the Colombian people, in which he said : " My 
wishes are for the happiness of the people. If my death 
should unite them I will go to the tomb content — yes, 
to the tomb! The people send me there, but I forgive 
them." 

So died Simon Bolivar, on December 17, 1830, at the 
age of forty-seven years. He had an ardent nature. 
Only a great soul could have accomplished what he did. 
He has been criticized, and not without cause, but he 
must be numbered among the heroes of civilization, liberty 
and progress. 

Bolivar may not have been a Washington, but the 



LAST DAYS OF SIMON BOLIVAR 1 53 

struggles of his soul to fulfil what is noblest in life appear 
in his letters and proclamations, in the surrender of his pri- 
vate fortune to the public good, and in the peril to which he 
exposed his life. He must have a low vision indeed who 
can only seek in such a life incidents for criticism and 
detraction. A work written by an officer whom Bolivar 
had offended and dismissed represents the Liberator as 
given over to his passions, as living constantly in the 
practice of dissimulation, as vainglorious, and as seeking 
the supreme power. Against such accusations are these 
facts, namely, on the death of his beloved wife the Liber- 
ator resolved never to marry again, so that he might de- 
vote all his thought to the cause of South American liberty ; 
again and again he placed his resignation of the highest 
trusts into the hands of the representatives of the people ; 
he declared that if his death would better serve the cause 
of liberty and unity he was willing to die. It is said that 
San Martin was less an individual than a mission, and 
Bolivar was more a cause than a general. 

Three notable declarations of Bolivar, all made in his 
youth, reveal perfectly his character and life : That spoken 
on Monte Sacro, Rome : " I pledge my life to liberty ! " 
Another spoken at Caracas at the time of the earthquake : 
" If nature herself opposes us, we will compel her to 
obey." A third one spoken at Cartagena: "I disregard 
rank and distinction, because I aspire to a more honorable 
destiny — to shed my blood for the liberty of my country ! " 



CHAPTER XV 

WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT AND THE INDUSTRIAL 
HEROES 

THERE are few more beautiful monuments in the 
cemeteries of the world than that of William Wheel- 
wright in the Recoleta of Buenos Ayres, and as few that 
commemorate so wonderful a history. A memorial to his 
memory is also to be found in Valparaiso. He was buried 
at Newburyport, where a plain monument marks his resting- 
place. 

This man of marvelous achievements was once, when 
young, a wrecked sailor on the shores of the Rio de la Plata. 
He is so represented in the Buenos Ayres monument. He 
entered the vast and undeveloped regions of the pampas 
as a castaway. He perceived the needs of the immense 
regions. He rose superior to misfortune and changed the 
face of the maritime world. As an illustration of the 
transcendent power of the human will, without other 
resources than those it can gain, his life is almost unex- 
ampled. In the industrial world he ranks with Franklin, 
and among men of spiritual vision, and almost impossible 
achievement, with Bolivar and San Martin. 

There is a notable sentence in the Hon. Caleb Cushing's 
introduction to the " Life of Wheelwright." It indirectly 
pictures the hero of the future, the true leader of the 

154 



WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT 1 55 

armies of beneficence. Mr. Cushing says : " The con- 
templation of his life suggests two prominent considera- 
tions for South America, namely, that war is not the only 
department of service which entitles one to a place in 
history, and that a foreigner, even if he is not a citizen, 
may sometimes do more to promote a country's welfare 
than the most distinguished patriot." 

Wheelwright saw what South America might become, 
and attempted to make real the vision. He was considered 
a visionary. " If that insane Wheelwright calls here 
again," said an English consul to a servant, " do not admit 
him." All the world and fate seemed against him, yet his 
faith rose over all. 

He was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1 798. He 
early became a sailor. When he was but nineteen years 
of age he commanded a bark bound for Rio de Janeiro. 
The year 1823 found him in command of the ship Rising 
Empire, when he was wrecked at the mouth of the Rio de 
la Plata. He arrived in Buenos Ayres empty-handed. 
The wreck had shown him one of the needs of South 
America, namely, safe harbors. He became a supercargo 
on a ship bound around the Horn to Valparaiso. His 
ambition now was to improve the navigation of South 
America, and he adopted that country as his home. 

He was United States consul at Guayaquil from 1824 
to 1829. He improved harbors, and established a line 
of vessels between Valparaiso and Cobija. He added 
to this enterprise a line of steamers on the west coast. 
He sought aid from the United States for his ship schemes, 
but it was refused. Not daunted by failure, he went to Eng- 
land. He there received a favorable hearing. He organ- 
ized the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which has 
proved a great benefit to England and South America, 
and also to the civilized world. 



156 SOUTH AMERICA 

The Pacific Steam Navigation Company, in 1876, oper- 
ated fifty-four steamers and controlled the route through 
Panama. Wheelwright now dominated the southern sea. 
The Andes lifted their giant towers above him. Could 
they also be controlled, harnessed with iron, made high- 
ways through the air? He attempted that task. He 
caused a railroad to be built from Valparaiso to Santiago. 
It was but the beginning of colossal schemes. He opened 
the port of Caldera, and built a railway from it to Copiapo. 
He next planned a railroad from Caldera across the Andes 
to Rosario. This proved to be the forerunner of the trans- 
andine railroad, now nearly completed, one of the most 
stupendous works ever accomplished by man. In 1863 he 
obtained the concession for the Grand Argentine Central 
Railway. In 1872 he completed a railroad thirty miles 
long, from Buenos Ayres to the harbor of Ensenada. This 
was connected with the railroad across the pampas. 

This man gave to benevolent purposes about six hun- 
dred thousand dollars. He died in London, September 26, 
1873, at the age of seventy-five. His full-length portrait 
now adorns the Merchants' Exchange at Valparaiso. 

The industrial progress of Peru is largely associated 
with the enterprises of Henry Meiggs, a man of wonderful 
achievements and remarkable mistakes. He had a noble 
heart. The payment of his debts in full, when beyond the 
reach of his creditors, proves that he was an honest man. 
With his many mistakes, Henry Meiggs must be numbered 
among the world's benefactors. 

He was born in Catskill, New York, on July 7, 181 1. 
He came to New York when a young man, and engaged 
in the lumber-trade. He failed in the crisis of 1837, at 
the age of twenty-six. He recovered from the disaster, 
and at once established a lumber-yard at Williamsburg, 
New York. For a while he was prosperous, but in 1842 



WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT 157 

he again met with reverses, and returned to New York. 
From there he went to San Francisco with a cargo of 
lumber, on which he made a large profit. He there saw 
a new opportunity. 

He created a fleet of lumber craft, sloops and schooners, 
to trade in lumber on the coast. He employed five hun- 
dred men in felling trees for a single sawmill on San 
Francisco Bay. He became rich. His name was a 
synonym of enterprise. In the second great financial 
depression, that of 1854, he again failed, and fled from 
California to South America, leaving debts to the amount 
of one million dollars. He now sought to recover his 
fortune and to pay his debts by engaging in enterprises 
of public improvement in South America. He began 
building bridges in Chili. In 1858 he became a contractor 
for the construction of railroads under the Chilian g-overn- 
ment. He was successful, realizing a profit of one-and- 
a-half million dollars, and made for himself the reputation 
of being one of the most successful railroad-builders in the 
world. 

The so-called Oroya Railroad, or the Callao, Lima, and 
Oroya Railroad, Oroya being the high Andean terminus, 
is one of the new wonders of the world, and well earned 
for him a place among the foremost captains of industry. 
The purpose of this highway through the clouds was to 
connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by rail and steam 
— by rail over the Cordilleras, and by steam by means of a 
branch of the Amazon to the Amazon, and thence to the 
sea. The railroad was to ascend a height nearly the alti- 
tude of Mont Blanc. Great gorges would have to be 
surmounted, rushing streams to be spanned with bridges 
in what at first seemed to be impossible places, tunnels to 
be begun by men hanging from ropes over precipices, 
borings in rocks to be made over the chasms. The im- 



158 SOUTH AMERICA 

plements for work would have to be transported to almost 
inaccessible heights. Meiggs faced all these difficulties in 
the spirit of Bolivar: "If nature herself opposes us, we 
will compel her to obey." The enterprise was begun. It 
soon overtaxed the financial resources of the Peruvian 
government. 

Meiggs then used his private fortune. The iron road 
gradually found its way to Oroya, at a height of some 
fourteen thousand feet. Its connection with the Amazon 
is but a matter of time. 

Henry Meiggs was again a rich man. He devoted a 
large part of his great wealth to paying his old debts, 
principal and interest. To recover his influence and to 
say to the world that he was honest seems to have been 
his purpose through all his misfortunes. 

After the liberators the industrial classes are the true 
heroes and the real army of liberation in South America. 
Since the period of her independence of Spain the farmer, 
the artisan and the schoolmaster have been her benefactors. 
Out of the war of this army with ignorance, barbarism and 
the soil, her glory is rising and will continue to rise. 

In Argentina is the South American Normal School. 
It is training a company of teachers to lead the new 
armies of peace. Just outside of Buenos Ayres rises 
what is claimed to be the largest roof in the world. Be- 
side the building are many ships, over which fly the flags 
of the commercial nations. There are many large estancias, 
or ranches, there, on which are flocks and herds, sometimes 
numbering fifty thousand animals. One of these estancias 
is owned by Nicholas Lowe. It is situated some fifty or 
more miles from Buenos Ayres. Mr. Lowe is a Scotch- 
man who has given away a small fortune for educational 
purposes. He has a flock of more than ten thousand 
sheep, and took one of the prizes at the World's Colum- 



WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT 159 

bian Exposition. He is reputed to be wealthy. One of 
the squares in the town is named for him, and he is 
regarded in his part of the country as a benefactor. 
" When I first came to the country," he said, " I was 
almost empty-handed. My coat was my house. I began 
work with my own spade." His home is as beautiful as 
his flocks are numerous and his fields wide. He came to 
the country to stay in it and to live in it. It is such im- 
migrants as he whose lives are beyond price to South 
America, and who are playing such an important part in 
its development. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE MONROE DOCTRINE— THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY 

IN 1 8 14 England acquired from the Dutch about twenty- 
thousand square miles of land in Guiana. This ter- 
ritory, according to the Venezuelan view, had formerly 
belonged to Spain. It now became a part of the colonial 
possessions of Great Britain. Later England claimed that 
the territory extending from the mouth of the river Esse- 
quibo to the Orinoco was a part of Dutch Guiana when 
that territory was ceded by the Dutch to the English in 
1 8 14. Venezuela replied that this territory never be- 
longed to Dutch Guiana at all, but that it was Spanish 
territory, and so became hers when she established her 
independence. 

Between the years 1839 and 1841 Sir Robert H. 
Schomburgk, without the knowledge of Venezuela at the 
time, drew a boundary-line for Great Britain, which gave 
her 60,000 square miles. The territory claimed by the 
English continued to grow. In 1889 England claimed 
76,000 square miles, and later the claim was made for 
109,000 square miles. 

After the downfall of Napoleon the Holy Alliance of 
Prussia, Austria and Russia was formed in the interest 
of absolutism in Europe. South America had thrown off 
the rule of Spain, and it was feared that this council of 

160 



THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY l6l 

the great European powers would restore to Spain her 
colonies. It then became a question in the United States 
as to what should be the attitude of the American repub- 
lics in regard to the interference of European powers in 
American affairs. 

In 1823, when the Allies were considering the affairs of 
Spain, President Monroe consulted Thomas Jefferson in 
regard to the new aspect of international affairs. He re- 
plied to President Monroe's letters in these strong, clear 
words : " The question presented by the letters you have 
sent me is the most momentous which has ever been 
offered to my contemplation since that of independence. 
That made us a nation ; this sets our compass, and points 
the course which we are to steer through the ocean of 
time opening on us. And never could we embark upon it 
under circumstances more auspicious. Our first and fun- 
damental maxim should be, never to entangle ourselves in 
the broils of Europe ; our second, never to suffer Europe 
to intermeddle with cisatlantic affairs. America, North 
and South, has a set of interests distinct from those of 
Europe, and peculiarly her own. She should therefore 
have a system of her own, separate and apart from that of 
Europe. While the last is laboring to become the domi- 
cile of despotism, our endeavor should surely be to make 
our hemisphere that of freedom." 

Shortly after, President Monroe announced the prin- 
ciples of a new policy which he thought should govern 
American diplomacy. It is known as the Monroe Doc- 
trine. " The political system of the allied powers is essen- 
tially different in this respect from that of America. We 
owe it therefore to candor and to the amicable relations 
existing between the United States and those powers to 
declare that we should consider any attempt on their part 
to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere 



1 62 SOUTH AMERICA 

as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing 
colonies or dependencies of any European power we have 
not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the 
governments who have declared their independence and 
maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great 
consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we 
could not view any interposition for the purpose of op- 
pressing them, or controlling in any manner their destiny, 
by any European power, in any other light than as the 
manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the 
United States. 

" Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted 
at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated 
that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, 
which is not to interfere in the internal concerns of any 
of its powers ; to consider the government de facto as legiti- 
mate government for us ; to cultivate friendly relations 
with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm 
and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims 
of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But, 
in regard to these continents, circumstances are eminently 
and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the 
allied powers should extend their political system to any 
portion of either continent without endangering our peace 
and happiness ; nor can any one believe that our southern 
brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their 
own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we 
should behold such interposition, in any form, with indif- 
ference." 

President Polk applied the doctrine to Oregon and 
Yucatan, and President Buchanan to Mexico. President 
Cleveland did likewise in regard to British enlargement 
of territory in Venezuela. England's claim to territory 
larger than all New England had come, in his opinion, to 



THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY 1 63 

be a matter of territorial interference in America. In his 
famous message of December 17, 1895, President Cleve- 
land said : 

" In my annual message addressed to the Congress on 
the 3d inst., I called attention to the pending boundary 
controversy between Great Britain and the republic of 
Venezuela, and recited the substance of a representation 
made by this government to her Britannic Majesty's gov- 
ernment, suggesting reasons why such dispute should be 
submitted to arbitration for settlement, and inquiring 
whether it would be so submitted. 

" If a European power, by an extension of its boundaries, 
takes possession of the territory of one of our neighboring 
republics against its will and in derogation of its rights, 
it is difficult to see why, to that extent, such European 
power does not thereby attempt to extend its system of 
government to that portion of this continent which is thus 
taken. This is the precise action which President Monroe 
declared to be ' dangerous to our peace and safety,' and 
it can make no difference whether the European system 
is extended by an advance of frontier or otherwise. . . . 

" Assuming, however, that the attitude of Venezuela 
will remain unchanged, the dispute has reached such a 
stage as to make it now incumbent upon the United States 
to take measures to determine with sufficient certainty for 
its justification what is the true divisional line between the 
republic of Venezuela and British Guiana. The inquiry 
to that end should, of course, be conducted carefully and 
judicially, and due weight should be given to all available 
evidence, records and facts in support of the claims of 
both parties. 

" In order that such an examination should be prose- 
cuted in a thorough and satisfactory manner, I suggest 
that Congress make an adequate appropriation for the 



1 64 SOUTH AMERICA 

expenses of a commission, to be appointed by the Execu- 
tive, which shall make the necessary investigation and 
report upon the matter with the least possible delay. 
When such report is made and accepted it will, in my 
opinion, be the duty of the United States to resist, by 
every means in its power, as a wilful aggression upon its 
rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain 
of any lands, or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction 
over any territory, which, after investigation, we have 
determined of right belongs to Venezuela. 

" In making these recommendations, I am fully alive to 
the responsibility incurred, and keenly realize all the con- 
sequences that may follow. 

" I am, nevertheless, firm in my conviction that, while 
it is a grievous thing to contemplate the two great Eng- 
lish-speaking peoples of the world as being otherwise than 
friendly competitors in the onward march of civilization, 
and strenuous and worthy rivals in all the arts of peace, 
there is no calamity which a great nation can invite which 
equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong 
and injustice, and the consequent loss of national self- 
respect and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended 
a people's safety and greatness." 

The necessity of intervention in Cuba in the interests 
of humanity became obvious in the winter of 1896-97, and 
brought legislation again face to face with the Monroe 
Doctrine. 

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reported 
on December 21, 1896, a resolution offered by Senator 
Cameron : 

" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
the independence of the republic of Cuba be, and the same 
is hereby, acknowledged by the United States of America. 



THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY 165 

" Be it further resolved, That the United States will use 
its friendly offices with the government of Spain to bring 
to a close the war between Spain and the republic of 
Cuba." 

The report accompanying the resolution was regarded 
as one of the ablest political documents of the last quarter 
of this century. It reviewed the Monroe Doctrine, and 
said : 

" Into this American system, thus created by Monroe 
in 1822-23, an d embracing then, besides the United 
States, only Buenos Ayres, Chili, Colombia and Mexico, 
various other communities have since claimed, and in most 
cases have received, admission, until it now includes all 
South America, except the Guianas ; all Central America, 
except the British colony of Honduras ; and the two black 
republics of Spanish Santo Domingo and Hayti in the 
Antilles. 

" No serious question was again raised with any Euro- 
pean power in regard to the insurrection or independence 
of their American possessions until, in 1869, a rebellion 
broke out in Cuba, and the insurgents, after organizing 
a government and declaring their independence, claimed 
recognition from the United States. 

" The government of the United States had always 
regarded Cuba as within the sphere of its most active and 
serious interest. As early as 1825, when the newly 
recognized states of Colombia and Mexico were supposed 
to be preparing an expedition to revolutionize Cuba and 
Puerto Rico, the United States government interposed 
its friendly offices with those governments to request their 
forbearance. The actual condition of Spain seemed to 
make her retention of Cuba impossible, in which case the 
United States would have been obliged, for her own safety, 
to prevent the island from falling into the hands of a 



1 66 SOUTH AMERICA 

stronger power in Europe. That this emergency did not 
occur may have been partly due to the energy with which 
Monroe announced ' our right and our power to prevent 
it,' and his determination to use all the means within his 
competency ' to guard against and forfend it.' 

" This right of intervention in matters relating to the 
external relations of Cuba, asserted and exercised seventy 
years ago, has been asserted and exercised at every crisis 
in which the island has been involved. 

"When the Cuban insurgents in 1869 appealed to the 
United States for recognition, President Grant admitted 
the justice of the claim, and directed the minister of the 
United States at Madrid to interpose our good offices with 
the Spanish government in order to obtain by a friendly 
arrangement the independence of the island. The story 
of that intervention is familiar to every member of the 
Senate, and was made the basis of its resolution last ses- 
sion, requesting the President once more ' to interpose 
his friendly offices with the Spanish government for the 
recognition of the independence of Cuba.' 

" The resolution then adopted by Congress was perfectly 
understood to carry with it all the consequences which 
necessarily would follow the rejection by Spain of friendly 
offices. On this point the situation needs no further 
comment. The action taken by Congress in the last 
session was taken ' on great consideration and on just 
principles,' on a right of intervention exercised twenty- 
seven years ago, and after a patient delay unexampled in 
history. 

" The interval of nine months which has elapsed since 
that action of Congress has proved the necessity of carry- 
ing it out to completion. In the words of the President's 
annual message : ' The stability two years' duration has 
given to the insurrection ; the feasibility of its indefinite 



THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY 167 

prolongation in the nature of things, and as shown by past 
experience; the utter and imminent ruin of the island 
unless the present strife is speedily composed,' are, in our 
opinion, conclusive evidence that ' the inability of Spain to 
deal successfully with the insurrection has become mani- 
fest, and it is demonstrated that the sovereignty is extinct 
in Cuba for all purposes of its rightful existence ; . . . a 
hopeless struggle for its reestablishment has degenerated 
into a strife which means nothing more than the useless 
sacrifice of human life and the utter destruction of the 
very subject-matter of the conflict.' 

" Although the President appears to have reached a 
different conclusion from ours, we believe this to be the 
actual situation of Cuba, and, being unable to see that 
further delay could lead to any other action than that 
which the President anticipates, we agree with the con- 
clusion of the message .that, in such case, our obligations 
to the sovereignty of Spain are ' superseded by higher 
obligations which we can hardly hesitate to recognize and 
discharge.' Following closely the action of President 
Monroe, in 1818, Congress has already declared in effect 
ts opinion that there can be no rational interference except 
on the basis of independence. 

" In 1822, as now, but with more force, it was objected, 
as we have shown, that the revolted states had no govern- 
ments to be recognized. Divisions, and even civil war, 
existed among the insurgents themselves. Among the 
Cubans no such difficulty is known to exist. In September, 
1895, as we know by official documents printed on the 
spot, the insurgent government was regularly organized, 
a constitution adopted, a president elected, and, in due 
course, the various branches of administration set in motion. 
Since then, so far as we are informed, this government has 
continued to perform its functions undisturbed. On the 



168 SOUTH AMERICA 

military side, as we officially know, they have organized, 
equipped and maintained in the field sufficient forces to 
baffle the exertions of two hundred thousand Spanish sol- 
diers. On the civil side they have organized their system 
of administration in every province ; for, as we know offi- 
cially, they roam at will over at least two thirds of the 
inland country. Diplomatically they have maintained a 
regularly accredited representative in the United States 
for the past year, who has never ceased to ask recognition, 
and to offer all possible information. There is no reason 
to suppose that any portion of the Cuban people would 
be dissatisfied by our recognizing their representative in 
this country, or that they disagree in the earnest wish for 
that recognition. The same thing could hardly be said of 
all the countries recognized by Monroe in 1822. Greece 
had no such stability when it was recognized by England, 
Russia and France. Belgium had nothing of the sort 
when it was recognized by all the powers in 1830. Of 
the states recognized by the treaty of Berlin in 1878, we 
need hardly say more than that they were the creatures of 
intervention. 

" The only question that properly remains for Congress 
to consider is the mode which shall be adopted for the 
step which Congress is pledged next to take. 

" The government of the United States entertains none 
but the friendliest feelings toward Spain. Its most anxious 
wish is to avoid even the appearance of an unfriendliness 
which is wholly foreign to its thought. For more than a 
hundred years, amid divergent or clashing interests, and 
under frequent and severe strains, the two governments 
have succeeded in avoiding collision, and there is no 
friendly office which Spain could ask which the United 
States, within the limits of her established principles and 
policy, would not - be glad to extend. In the present 



THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY 1 69 

instance she is actuated by an earnest wish to avoid the 
danger of seeming to provoke a conflict. 

" The practice of Europe in regard to intervention, as 
in the instances cited, has been almost invariably harsh 
and oppressive. The practice of the United States has 
been almost invariably mild and forbearing. Among the 
precedents which have been so numerously cited there 
can be no doubt as to the choice. The most moderate is 
the best. Among these the attitude taken by President 
Monroe in 1822 is the only attitude which can properly 
be regarded as obligatory for a similar situation to-day. 
The course pursued by the United States in the recogni- 
tion of Colombia is the only course which Congress can 
consistently adopt." 

In 1898 a squadron of the American navy was at Hong- 
Kong, China, under Commodore Dewey. He was ordered 
to proceed to the Philippine Islands and destroy the 
Spanish fleet in the port of Manila. The order was exe- 
cuted, and resulted in one of the greatest naval victories 
in American history. The taking of Manila presents a 
new phase of the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine that 
opposed the enlargement of English territory on the 
Orinoco might, by inference, be interpreted to prevent 
the New World from seeking expansion in the countries 
or islands of the Old World. The right of the United 
States to maintain the principle of the Monroe Doctrine 
seems a reasonable one, but consistency would require 
her to maintain a like view and relations in her diplomacy 
with the powers of the Old World. The maintenance of 
the principles of the Monroe Doctrine has heretofore 
seemed to be more valuable to our institutions in the 
future than any territory that we could secure and hold in 
the East or in foreign seas. Have changed conditions 
made necessary a change in this governmental policy ? 



CHAPTER XVII 



BRAZIL 



WHAT the Pacific Ocean, lying undisturbed, or mov- 
ing in long waves that rise and fall in repose, is 
among waters, that Brazil seems to be among the Latin- 
American states. She has been the scene of few political 
tragedies. As a rule, her Indian races have been a quiet 
and contented people, living under the guidance of rulers 
that were just. When these races were about to rise 
against the growing immigration, the Portuguese, who had 
lived among them, persuaded them to await events. The 
discovery of the country was claimed by others, but they 
were persuaded to relinquish their claims in favor of the 
Portuguese. The many colonies did not often fall into 
disputes with one another. The captains of the provinces 
yielded to a governor-general, and the governor-general 
to a king. When Napoleon displaced thrones, the royal 
family of Portugal fled to Brazil. The Brazilians were 
unwilling to have them return. The matter was peacefully 
adjusted. The constitution was proclaimed by an em- 
peror. He, as emperor, swore to support this constitu- 
tion. The Brazilians made him emperor for life. This 
growth of republican sentiments came peacefully. When 
Dom Pedro I. saw that the people were dissatisfied with 
him, he abdicated in favor of his son. The people elected 

170 



BRAZIL 171 

the regents for this son. When this son did not come of 
age at the time they wished, the Congress shortened the 
time of his minority. 

Brazil has been called the " land of diamonds." It has 
a length of some 2600 British miles, a breadth of 2500 
miles, and some 4000 miles of sea-coast. The great river 
of the lowlands of Brazil, the Amazon, is the monarch of 
watercourses. With its tributaries it has a free navigation 
of some 30,000 miles. 

All climates are found in this vast empire — the trop- 
ical heat in the valleys of the Amazon, the intertrop- 
ical, and the temperate of the western elevations. The 
marshy banks of the lowlands are unhealthful, but the 
climate as a whole is salubrious. With its vigorous coffee- 
plantations, its india-rubber groves, its cotton, its forests, 
and its mines of gems, the empire is inexhaustibly rich. 

Brazil was discovered in 1499 by Vicente Yanez Pin- 
zon, an explorer in the service of Columbus. He sailed 
along the coast from the Amazon to the Orinoco, and 
carried brazil-wood back to Spain. 

In 1500 a Portuguese captain, Pedro Alvares Cabral, 
was commissioned by his king to follow the course of 
Vasco da Gama. He was driven by winds upon the Bra- 
zilian coast. This commander celebrated Easter Sunday 
on shore, where he erected an altar and uplifted the cross. 
He took possession of the country in the name of the King 
of Portugal. He sent back a vessel to Lisbon to proclaim 
his discovery, while he went on his way to India. He left 
behind a stone cross to commemorate the event of his 
visit. 

The news of the discovery thrilled Portugal. The king 
called the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci into his ser- 
vice, and sent him with three vessels to explore the coun- 
try. From him is derived the name of the western world, 



172 SOUTH AMERICA 

America. Vespucci beheld the new land with wonder. 
He hastened back to Portugal to report what he had seen. 
He took with him a cargo of brazil-wood, monkeys and 
parrots. He established a settlement on the coast. 

Although Vespucci brought back with him wonderful 
accounts of the country, he did not bring gold or dia- 
monds. The diamond country had not at that time been 
discovered. The subjects of Portugal, however, began to 
go to Brazil for brazil-wood, and to colonize the country. 
A large Portuguese colony soon began to form there, and 
out of it grew an empire. 

Martin Alfonso de Sousa came to a harbor on the coast 
on January I, 1 53 1, and from that circumstance named it 
Rio de Janeiro, the " River of January." It is one of the 
finest and most picturesque harbors in the world. He 
explored the country and made an alliance with the natives. 
Cotton and sugar-cane were introduced from Madeira. 
The Portuguese colonies multiplied, flourished and grew. 

The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded in 1667 by the 
Portuguese. Portuguese explorers and noblemen received 
grants of territory called captaincies. Brazil seemed 
destined to become the greater Portugal, a great source 
of that country's revenue, and one of the dependencies 
of her glory and pride. This, however, was for a time 
delayed. 

Orellana, a Spanish adventurer, had started from Peru, 
found the Amazon, and sailed down that river. The dis- 
covery of the river was claimed by him, and for Spain. 

Portugal then found it necessary to appoint a captain- 
general to protect her territory. Thome de Sousa was 
given this office, and in him the viceregal government of 
Brazil began. 

Jin 1730 the discovery of the diamond-fields was an- 
ounced to the government, which declared the mines to 



BRAZIL 173 

be regalia (royal rights). The white population increased 
largely and was generally peaceful. There was a contest 
between the Jesuit missionaries and some of the settlers, 
but Brazil for a long time had a peaceful history. 

In 1807, during the invasion of Portugal by the French, 
the royal family fled to Brazil for safety. The colony 
thus became the seat of the throne of the parent country. 
The return of the royal family to Portugal displeased the 
Brazilians, as they thereby again became provincial. 

Republican ideas, which were filling South America, 
found ready acceptance in Brazil. In 1822 the indepen- 
dence of Brazil was proclaimed. After many revolutionary 
changes a constitution was formulated and proclaimed. On 
March 25, 1824, the emperor swore to support the consti- 
tution. By so doing he saved Brazil to the Portuguese 
throne. The Emperor of Portugal assumed the title of 
Emperor of Brazil, but abdicated in favor of his son, 
Dom Pedro L, who, it was expected, would hold the 
throne for life. Thus Brazil became a republic, with a 
king of the house of Portugal as its executive officer. 
The new emperor, however, was favorable to the party of 
absolutism. He excited opposition, and finally abdicated 
the throne in favor of his son, Dom Pedro II., then a boy, 
for whom a regency was formed. 

The election of a regent followed. This practically 
made the government republican. Dom Pedro II. was 
proclaimed emperor July 23, 1840. With this boy's reign 
began the prosperous period of the Brazilian monarchy. 
When the beneficent Dom Pedro II. found that the people 
desired a republic with an elective head, he abdicated. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE PROGRESS OF ARGENTINA— THE TYRANTS QUIROGA 
AND ROSAS — MITRE — THE PERIOD OF PROGRESS 

THE Argentine Republic had two struggles for liberty 
— one with Spain, the other with her own tyrants. 

The movements of affairs in Argentina, which through 
stress and struggle reached the period of splendid achieve- 
ment under General Mitre, are briefly as follows : Liniers, 
who was viceroy at the time Joseph Bonaparte was placed 
on the throne of Spain, was deposed by the adherents of 
Ferdinand VII., and Cisneros was made viceroy in the 
name of Ferdinand. On May 25, 18 10, a date still cele- 
brated, a provisional government was formed. This was 
the beginning of the republic. On January 31, 181 3, a 
congress assembled at Buenos Ayres, and Posadas was 
elected Dictator of the republic. A struggle ensued be- 
tween the party of independence and that of the royalists. 
On March 25, 18 16, a new congress met at Tucuman, 
which elected Pueyrredon President of the republic, and 
declared the separation of the country from Spain. The 
Congress did not represent all of the ancient viceroyalty. 
Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay became separate repub- 
lics. The war of liberation under San Martin followed. 

On January 23, 1825, the federal states of the present 
Argentine Republic formulated a national constitution. 

174 



THE TYRANTS QUIROGA AND ROSAS 175 

Two parties arose in the republic — the Unitarians, who 
favored a strong central government, after the model of 
the United States ; and the States' Rights Party, or Feder- 
alists, who would still hold the old provinces under their 
local chiefs and laws. 

The Banda Oriental of Uruguay was a territory in 
dispute, but was made independent by the mediation of 
England in 1827. 

In 1825 Rivadavia was elected President of Argentina. 
He sought to establish a strong central government. He 
was opposed by the Federalists, who elected Lopez Presi- 
dent, and after him Dorrego. There was a fierce conten- 
tion between the two parties in the days of Ouiroga. 
Rosas became the leader of the Federal party. 

After the long period of tyrants began the succession 
of illustrious presidents who have led Argentina to the 
front of the new nations of the world. 

That a nation which had emancipated itself from Spain 
should fall into the power of men without heart, without 
character, without armies, with nothing but the terror that 
they were able to inspire by a barbarous personality, is 
one of the events that illustrate how easy is the reaction 
from enthusiasm, and how unstable are susceptible minds 
amid changes of fortune. 

Juan Facundo Quiroga was born in the province of 
Rioja in 1790. His parents were shepherds. At school 
he assaulted the teacher and fled. In 1806 he was sent 
by his father with merchandise to Chili. He lost the 
proceeds at the gambling-table. On being reproached 
by his father he fled again, and collected a band of 
robbers. 

This man, gathering around him a few reckless and 
adventurous spirits, raided cities, destroyed the liberties 
of Argentina, and put his own arbitrary and insane will 



176 SOUTH AMERICA 

in the place of law. He brought Jujuy, Catamarca, 
Tucuman, Rioja, San Juan and Mendoza, heroic places 
associated with the great names and deeds of Belgrano 
and San Martin, under his influence. He made himself a 
despot by the force of his irresistible will. The cities as 
well as the country were at the mercy of this human 
thunderbolt. 

" Most tyrants," says Sarmiento, " are superstitious. 
Quiroga seems to have been born without fear, though he 
said he once knew fear when he was watched by the eye of 
a tiger in a bending tree. He is even said once to have 
wept when he returned to his old home and saw the ruin 
that he had brought upon his aged father. But such inci- 
dents are but exceptions to his life and conduct. From 
boyhood he delighted in cruelty, and this nature grew in 
him until he became like a beast of the forest that has 
tasted human blood. He gloried in his power over men, 
and in his power to do injustice. 

" He did not believe in God, in any morality or virtue. 
He had a magnetic will, and to exercise this thrilled him. 
He was like the hawk when the bush- bird cowers before 
him. In the line of battle his soldiers trembled with terror, 
not of the enemy, but of their own chief, who strode be- 
hind them brandishing his lance. They fell upon the 
enemy merely to put something between their eyes and 
the figure of Quiroga, which haunted them like a phan- 
tom." 

Quiroga aspired to set up a president who should obey 
him. He named Dr. Jose Santos Ortez, ex-governor of 
San Luis. 

Quiroga had one impulse ; it was to free Argentina 
entirely from the rule of Spain. He breathed the air of 
freedom, and drew men after him like the wind. He had 
caused the old Spanish cities to fall before him, and wher- 



THE TYRANTS QUIROGA AND ROSAS I 77 

ever he went he left desolation. He put his own wild will 
in the place of foreign tyranny. 

Sarmiento, in picturing the mad career of the tyrant of 
the plains, says : " On the Godoy farm in San Juan are 
shown mud walls of Quiroga's treading. There are others 
in Fiambala and in Rioja made by him. He himself 
pointed out others in Mendoza. In that place he had 
caused twenty-six officers to be shot. What motives 
induced this man, brought up in a respectable family, to 
descend to the hireling's work of treading brick?" The 
question may perhaps be answered by saying that to be- 
come a hero of the plainsmen one had at that day to 
identify one's self with the people. 

In the fullness of his power, for men to laugh at him was 
death. He murdered a girl whom he had promised to 
marry, and struck dead his own son. " Pax," he said of 
one of his enemies in the field, " shot six of my officers ; 
I have shot ninety-six of his." 

Quiroga talked of the country as though he held its fate 
in his hand, yet he had no regular army, and was not 
even the governor of a province. His sword of power 
was merely the terror which he was able to inspire. The 
people dared do nothing against his will. He would cut 
down any opponent without mercy, and without any just 
cause. No one dared to stay his hand. 

He made Rioja the seat of his power. He robbed the 
country in the name of the government, and sent the 
treasures to Rioja. It is said that he hid in the woods 
guns, swords and lances to the number of twelve thou- 
sand ; that he had sixteen hundred horses in the pastures 
of Cuzco. He concealed an immense amount of treasures 
of silver and gold. 

Rosas, a man who sprang from the people, was made 
governor of Buenos Ayres. He, too, was a tyrant. He 



178 SOUTH AMERICA 

became a confederate with Quiroga, raised the red flag, 
and from his campaigns in the interior took the title of 
the " Hero of the Desert." 

The years following the revolution found Argentina and 
the Banda Oriental largely under the rule of three tyrants 
— Quiroga, Lopez and Rosas. 

Quiroga came to Buenos Ayres unannounced, a man 
without an army. But in the city of Rosas he soon found 
himself surrounded by followers, and felt his growing 
power. He began to speak contemptuously of Rosas, 
made investments in the public funds, did deeds of per- 
sonal strength and valor that excited the admiration of 
the barbarous classes, and boasted that he would one 
day treat Buenos Ayres as he had done the river prov- 
inces. 

Rosas resigned the governorship of Buenos Ayres 
under compulsion, to take up the sword and to follow the 
example of Quiroga. The year 1834 found two tyrants 
in the field. One was to destroy the other. 

Quiroga was called away from the city of Buenos Ayres 
to settle divisions that had arisen in the northern provinces. 
He said to his friends on leaving the port city : " If I 
succeed, you will see me again ; if I fail, farewell forever!" 
He started forth for the pampas accompanied by Dr. Ortez, 
whom he had wished to make President. 

There comes a time when one's crimes gather upon 
one's own head, and the man of terror becomes a terror 
to himself. To Quiroga now came the darkness of appre- 
hension. He felt that he had made an enemy of humanity. 
He regarded every man as a cunning and merciless assas- 
sin. As he rushed over the pampas toward the foot-hills 
and mountain towns of the Andes, his apprehensions and 
suspicions grew. " How long since a courier passed ? " he 
asked at every post. "An hour or so," would be the 



THE TYRANTS QUIROGA AND ROSAS 1 79 

usual answer. "Hurry!" He changed horses rapidly. 
He was as one who could not wait. 

It began to rain on the plains, turning parts of them 
into lagoons. But he flew on, asking, " When did a 
courier pass?" He reached Santa Fe after the long ride 
of terror. His anxieties increased. He seems to have 
had the conviction that some avenging spirit was pursu- 
ing him. On arriving at the post of Pavon he found no 
horses there. The delay almost crazed him. An evil spirit 
seemed to possess him. He was not contented except 
when flying at a deadly pace. When he started out from 
Santa Fe he exclaimed : " If I can only get beyond the 
boundary it is enough!" But it was not enough. They 
arrived at Cordova in the night. He sat in his carriage 
calling for horses. An officer came to him to invite him 
to spend the night in the town. "Horses!" answered 
the chief. "You shall have the hospitality of the place." 
" Horses! " At midnight he renewed the mad ride. The 
people were greatly excited at seeing him come and go. 
There had been a plot formed to assassinate him on his 
way to the city, but he had escaped it by his haste. He 
arrived at his point of destination and settled the political 
difficulties there. Then the madness seemed to return 
upon him. "To Cordova!" he said to a postilion. This 
was not the safe way, but he felt it was the one over which 
fate compelled him to ride. He came to a post-station 
called Ojo del Agua. A young man came racing out of 
the woods to give warning to Dr. Ortez, his friend. " A 
company is stationed near Barranca- Yacco," said the mes- 
senger. " It is waiting to fire into the carriage. No one is 
to escape." The doctor told Quiroga what he had heard. 
He replied : " The man is not born who can kill Quiroga! " 
He rode on into the face of death. They came to a post- 
station. Again they were warned. A company of thirty 



l8o SOUTH AMERICA 

men was waiting to avenge the crimes of Quiroga. " We 
must go on — on!" he said. He lay down exhausted. 
At midnight Dr. Ortez, who had again been warned, 
aroused him. " We must escape by another way," he 
said. The chief laughed wildly. " The wrath of Quiroga 
is more than a match for anything we can meet at Bar- 
ranca-Yacco," he said. In the gray of the morning the 
carriage passed on. Dr. Ortez knew that he was follow- 
ing his friend to certain death. But amid his terror 
Quiroga believed that his methods of the past would 
render him superior to all his enemies. He was attacked. 
Men with swords cut down the horses. They stabbed the 
driver and the courier. "What is this?" cried Quiroga 
from the coach window. The answer was a ball through 
his head. He sank. They pierced his body with a sword. 
He had met the fate that he had made for himself. 

The tyrant Rosas followed. 

Don Juan Manuel Rosas, who rose to be governor of 
the Buenos Ayres Confederation, and afterward to be 
President of the Argentine Confederation, was born at 
Buenos Ayres. March 30, 1793. 

He made the Federal principle the excuse for his rule of 
blood. About the year 1833 he gained almost absolute 
power over Argentina, after the methods of Quiroga. 

The politics of the country must be understood in order 
to form a just judgment of the character and conduct of 
Rosas. Rivadavia, the first President of the republic, 
endeavored to establish a strong central government. The 
party which he represented was the Unitarians. The 
opposing party was known as the Federals. It main- 
tained provincial rights, much after the manner of the old- 
time South Carolinian idea of State rights in the United 
States. The Federals aimed to keep each state as inde- 
pendent as possible of the national government. At the 



PERIOD OF PROGRESS l8l 

end of the first President's term of office his opponents 
elected Vicente Lopez President, and in 1827 Dorrego, 
another representative of the Federal plan of government. 
In 1828 the Unitarians defeated the Federals. Dorrego 
was shot. Rosas became the leader of the Federal party. 
He defeated the Unitarians, and inaugurated a reign of 
terror. He proclaimed himself Dictator, and after many- 
bloody struggles proved himself superior to all of his 
enemies. 

In 1829 he was governor or captain-general of his native 
province, then in federal union with the provinces. He 
subdued the Indian revolts, established a tyrannical but 
stable government, and was elected President of the Ar- 
gentine Confederation. 

Autocrat that he was, intestine revolts subsided under 
his strong arm. Industrial conditions improved. Com- 
merce revived. Buenos Ayres grew and flourished. The 
other provinces became jealous of Buenos Ayres. Rosas, 
to strengthen the river provinces, sought to force Paraguay 
to unite with the confederation. This policy led to a war 
with Brazil. Rosas was defeated in the political compli- 
cations that followed. His rule had been so bloody that 
it became intolerable, and the states elected General 
Urquiza President. In a battle at Monte-Caseros, near 
Buenos Ayres, on February 3, 1852, the forces of Rosas 
were totally defeated. He fled to England, where he 
died in exile. 

It is hard to estimate the value of a life like that of 
Rosas. He ruled the country for seventeen years with 
an iron hand. His strong government represented his 
own ambition. His utter disregard of the sacredness of 
human life, his bloody deeds that defied justice, have left 
him a place among the darkest names of political crimes. 

General Mitre may be regarded as the father of the 



I 82 SOUTH AMERICA 

new republic. Between the years 1810 and 1835 Argen- 
tina had known thirty-six political changes. The republic 
became a unity under Mitre, who, both in and out of public 
office, for almost a generation was the guardian of her 
destiny. His principles once sent him into exile, but his 
influence on progressive Argentina was powerful. 

Bartolome Mitre was born at Buenos Ayres in 1821. 
Persecuted by Rosas on account of his patriotic writings, 
he removed to Montevideo, where he became a journalist, 
and led the country in journalistic enterprises which were 
made the medias of his progressive opinions. In 1846 
he went to Bolivia, and was in the battles of Lalava and 
Behistre as commander of artillery. He later went to Peru 
and Chili. In the latter country he awakened enmity by 
his views in " El Progreso," published at Santiago. He 
heard of the rising of the Argentines against Rosas, and 
returned to Argentina. He joined the revolutionary 
forces under General Urquiza. He commanded the 
artillery in the decisive battle of Monte-Caseros, February 
3, 1852. After the overthrow of Rosas he founded the 
journal "La Nacion." His influence grew; he was in- 
trusted with high public offices, and appointed to positions 
of the gravest responsibility. In 1862 he was proclaimed 
constitutional President for six years. His administration 
was a glorious industrial period in Argentina. Railroads, 
telegraph lines and public improvements multiplied, and, 
like the literary President Sarmiento, he advanced the cause 
of public education. He led Argentina in the war with 
Paraguay. His " La Vida de San Martin " is one of the 
best works for the American reader to select for begin- 
ning a study of South American history. 

After her second struggle for freedom Buenos Ayres 
became a commercial city of growing importance, and 
gathered to herself men who favored the enterprises that 



PERIOD OF PROGRESS I 83 

make such a city prosperous. Societies of the indus- 
tries and arts multiplied. Literature was cultivated, and 
stimulated achievement. The English Literary Society, 
with its extensive library and fine reading-room, became 
an inspiration to literary culture. 

The suburbs of Flores and Belgrano expanded into 
places famous for the beauty of their villas and gardens. 
The recoleta (cemetery), with its marble homes of the 
dead, became one of the most beautiful spots on earth. 
Monuments rose everywhere, each commemorating some 
illustrious deed. 

Three ports instead of one became essential to the trade 
of the expanding city. Approached from Ensenada, the 
white domes and tall spires of the city rise in the purple 
air over the pampas, with a beauty that fills the eye of the 
traveler with wonder. His admiration grows as the home 
port, with its city of ships, comes into nearer view. At 
all hours ships from European ports come and go, and the 
immigration from the East comes and does not go, but 
remains to make a new history in the world. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE TYRANTS OF PARAGUAY 

AFTER the expulsion of the Spanish the first tyrant of 
i~V Paraguay was Dr. Francia. He was born in Asun- 
cion, 1 76 1. By profession he was a lawyer. He was 
made consul in 181 1, Dictator for three years in 18 14, and 
Dictator for life in 181 7. He recognized no law but that 
of his own will. He arrested and executed innocent men 
without any trial. He was to the last degree cruel and 
unpatriotic. He died in his native city in 1840, 

Thomas Carlyle has a word of charity for him. In his 
essay on Dr. Francia, he says : " Francia's treatment of 
Artigas, his old enemy, the bandit and firebrand, reduced 
now to beg shelter of him, was good, humane, even digni- 
fied. Francia refused to see or treat with such a person, 
as he had ever done ; but readily granted him a place 
of residence in the interior, and ' thirty piasters a month 
till he died.' The bandit cultivated fields, did charitable 
deeds, and passed a life of penitence for his few remain- 
ing years. His bandit followers, such of them as took 
to plundering again, says M. Rengger, were instantly 
seized and shot.' 

" On the other hand, that anecdote of Francia's dying 
father requires to be confirmed. It seems the old man, 
who, as we saw, had long since quarreled with his son, 

184 



THE TYRANTS OF PARAGUAY 1 85 

was dying, and wished to be reconciled. Francia 'was 
busy; what use was it? could not come.' A second still 
more pressing message arrives : ' The old man dare not 
die unless he see his son ; fears he shall never enter 
heaven if they be not reconciled.' 'Then let him enter,' 
said Francia ; ' I will not come ! ' If this anecdote be 
true, it is certainly of all that are in circulation about 
Dr. Francia by far the worst. If Francia, in that death- 
hour, could not forgive his poor old father whatsoever he 
had done, or could in the murkiest, sultriest imagination 
be conceived to have done against him, then let no man 
forgive Dr. Francia! But the accuracy of public rumor 
in regard to a dictator who has executed forty persons is 
also a thing that can be guessed at. To whom was it, by 
name and surname, that Francia delivered this extraordi- 
nary response? Did the man make, or can he now be 
got to make, affidavit of it to credible articulate-speaking 
persons resident on this earth? If so, let him do it, for 
the sake of the psychological sciences. 

" One last fact more. Our lonesome Dictator, living 
among Gauchos, had the greatest pleasure, it would seem, 
in rational conversation with Robertson, with Rengger, 
with any kind of intelligent human creature, when such 
could be fallen in with, which was rarely. He would 
question you with eagerness about the ways of men in 
foreign places, the properties of things unknown to him. 
All human interest and insight was interesting to him. 
Only persons of no understanding being near him for 
the most part, he had to content himself with silence, a medi- 
tative cigar, and cup of mate. Oh, Francia, though thou 
hadst to execute forty persons, I am not without some 
pity for thee!" 

The principal tyrant of Paraguay was Francisco Solano 
Lopez, or Lopez the Younger, He was born July 24, 



1 86 SOUTH AMERICA 

1826, or, according to another authority, July 26, 1827. 
His early life was passed in the Paraguayan military service, 
in the times of the tyrant Dr. Francia, and in that he 
learned little but the arts of a spy. 

Paraguay declared her independence of Spain in 18 10. 
In 1 8 14 Dr. Francia was proclaimed Dictator for three 
years, and afterward for life. He held the office until his 
death in 1840, which was followed by anarchy. In 1842 
the Congress elected two nephews of Dr. Francia, Don 
Alonso Lopez and Don Carlos Antonio Lopez, consuls of 
the republic. In 1844 a new constitution was proclaimed, 
and Don Carlos Lopez, called Lopez the Elder, was made 
President with dictatorial power for a term Df seven years, 
which office was continued. He died in 1862, when he 
was succeeded as Dictator by his son Don Francisco Solano 
Lopez, then thirty-six years of age. 

This man, the South American Nero, may be regarded 
as the darkest character in all American history. To him 
may be directly or indirectly assigned the deaths of hun- 
dreds of thousands of human beings. He caused his own 
brother to be murdered, and his mother and sisters to be 
tortured. He had a passion for blood that was never 
satiated. Scarcely a day passed in his last years that the 
torture of innocent people was not made to feed his pas- 
sions. He was governed by the lowest and basest of animal 
passions, without any regard for justice or mercy, yet he 
claimed to govern by the appointment of God. If he 
imagined that any man looked unfavorably upon his mon- 
strous crimes he brought him to torture and death, 
without judge or jury. " He was not a man; he was a 
monster," said one of his own blood after his miserable 
death. 

Like all tyrants, he was a coward, and surrounded 
himself by spies. Lopez had nearly all the vices, and 



THE TYRANTS OF PARAGUAY 1 87 

was a slave to them all. He practised them openly. To 
rebuke him for these was death. He had no fear of the 
laws of God, yet he believed that his office was ordained 
of God. He did not fear priests. He compelled priests 
not only to confess to him as the " Lord's anointed," but 
to reveal to him the secrets of the confessional. He was 
as vainglorious as he was depraved. 

The Hon. Charles A. Washburn, commissioner and 
minister resident of the United States at Asuncion from 
1 86 1 to 1868, thus pictures this tyrant: 

" In person he was short and stout. His height was 
about five feet four, and, though always inclining to 
corpulency, his figure in his younger days was very 
good. He dressed with great care and precision, and 
endeavored to give himself a smart and natty appearance. 
His hands and feet were very small, indicating his Indian 
origin. His complexion was dark, and gave evidence of 
a strong taint of Guarany blood. He was proud of his 
Indian descent, and frequently used to boast of it. As 
he could not pretend to be of pure Spanish blood, he would 
rather ascribe his swarthy color to a mixture with the 
Indian than the negro race. Hence he was as prone to 
talk of his Indian ancestry as ever were the descendants 
of Pocahontas. He also had many of the tastes peculiar 
to the savage. Before going to Europe he dressed gro- 
tesquely, but his costume was always expensive and 
elaborately finished. He wore enormous silver spurs, 
such as would have been the envy of a Gaucho, and the 
trappings of his horse were so completely covered with 
silver as almost to form a coat of mail. After his return 
from abroad he adopted a more civilized costume, but 
always indulged in a gorgeous display of gold lace and 
bright buttons. He conversed with fluency and had a 
good command of language, and when in good humor his 



1 88 SOUTH AMERICA 

manners were courteous and agreeable. His eyes, when 
he was pleased, had a mild and amiable expression; but 
when he was enraged the pupil seemed to dilate till it 
included the whole iris, and the eye did not appear to be 
that of a human being, but rather of a wild beast goaded 
to madness. He had, however, a gross animal look that 
was repulsive when his face was in repose. His forehead 
was narrow and his head small, with the rear organs largely 
developed. He was an inveterate smoker of the strongest 
kind of Paraguayan cigars. His face was rather flat, and 
his nose and hair indicated more of the negro than of the 
Indian. His cheeks had a fulness that extended to the 
jowl, giving him a sort of bulldog expression. In his 
later years he grew enormously fat, so much so that few 
would believe that a photograph of his figure was not a 
caricature. He was very irregular in his hours of eating, 
but when he did eat, the quantity consumed was enor- 
mous. He was a gormand, but not an epicure. His drinking 
was in keeping with his eating. He always kept a large 
stock of foreign wines, liquors and ale, but he had little dis- 
crimination in the use of them. . . . Though he habitually 
drank largely, yet he often exceeded his own free limits, 
and on such occasions he was liable to break out in the 
most furious abuse of all who were about him. He would 
then indulge in the most revolting obscenity, and would 
sometimes give orders for the most barbarous acts. When 
he had recovered from such debauches he would stay the 
execution of his orders, if they had not already been 
enforced. ... It would generally be too late, the victims 
having already been executed. 

" Of the three most noted tyrants of South America, 
Francia, Rosas, and the second Lopez, all have been dis- 
tinguished for one quality, that is, personal cowardice. 
Francia was in such perpetual fear of his life that he kept 



THE TYRANTS OF PARAGUAY I 89 

himself constantly surrounded by a guard, and imagined 
that an assassin lurked behind every bush or wall or 
building he passed, Rosas was a notorious coward. 
Many instances in which he showed the most craven fear 
are well known to the older residents of the Plata. But 
the cowardly nature of Lopez was so apparent, he scarcely 
took pains to conceal it. He never exposed himself to 
the least danger when he could possibly avoid it. He 
usually had his headquarters so far in the rear that a 
shot from the enemy could never reach him. . . . Neverthe- 
less, such a thing was possible, and he therefore had 
another house built close adjoining the one in which he 
lived, surrounded on all sides with walls of earth at least 
twenty feet thick, and with a roof of the same material, so 
thick that no shot or shell that might light upon it could 
ever penetrate deep enough to do any damage. While 
all was still along the enemy's lines Lopez would bravely 
remain in the adjoining house ; but so surely as any firing 
was heard in the direction of the enemy's nearest batteries, 
he would instantly saunter out in feigned carelessness, 
trying hard to disguise his fear, and slink into his hole, 
and not show his face again outside until the firing had 
ceased. . . . At the very time he was thus hid away from 
danger he had his correspondents for the ' Semanario ' 
around him, writing the most extravagant articles in 
praise of his valor, his sacrifices, and his generalship. 
The people of Paraguay could never pay the debt they 
owed him, who, while they were living in security and 
abundance, was daily leading his legions to battle." 

Colonel George Thompson, in his history of this dark 
period, draws a like picture. He says : " One evening I 
was waiting to see Lopez, as were also several officers, and 
a sergeant of the guard entered into conversation with 
me. After a short time there was a great stir, officers 



190 SOUTH AMERICA 

going in and out of Lopez's room, the guard relieved, and 
the other officers who were waiting all arrested. One of 
Lopez's aides-de-camp came and said to me : ' His Excel- 
lency sends word to you to write down all the conversation 
you have had with the sergeant of the guard, and bring 
it to-morrow morning.' I went away, not expecting to be 
able to remember a twentieth part of the silly talk of the 
sergeant; but as things looked serious, I tried, and prob- 
ably remembered it all. It filled a whole sheet of paper, 
and was all of it somewhat in this style : ' The sergeant 
asked me if Queen Victoria always wore her crown when 
she went out to walk. The sergeant asked me if I should 
wear the Paraguayan uniform when I went to England.' 
It was sealed and taken next morning to Lopez, about 
7 A. M. He was not up yet, but the sergeant was already 
shot, and all the soldiers of the guard had received one 
hundred lashes each." 

In the troubles of Uruguay, Brazil had intervened. 
Lopez declared war against her. This involved him in 
war with the Argentine Republic. On May 1 , 1 865 , Brazil, 
the Argentine "Republic and Uruguay (Banda Oriental) 
formed an alliance against him, which led to one of the 
most desolating wars ever known in South America, and 
which in the end scarcely left him a thousand men. 

As the war between the allies and Paraguay went on in 
merciless savagery, Lopez became involved in troubles 
with foreign powers. Asuncion fell. 

In 1 868 the allied army, well prepared for the overthrow 
of Lopez, numbered thirty-two thousand men. The Bra- 
zilians took up a position near Villeta, north of Angostura, 
on the pass of the river Paraguay made famous by the 
exploits of Sebastian Cabot in 1526, nearly three hundred 
and fifty years before. Lopez had planted his guns so as 
to command the river. 



THE TYRANTS OF PARAGUAY 191 

The Brazilians marched into the rear of the Paraguayan 
army by the way of Chaco. They outnumbered the Para- 
guayans three to one. If Lopez should be defeated 
here, it would be the end of his power. The battle- 
field is known in history as the Pikysgry. Lopez made 
his headquarters on a hill overlooking the country for 
leagues around, some four miles from Angostura. The 
Brazilians from the first saw that they had Lopez in their 
power. The latter could trust only to the valor of his 
men for victory. The battle began with a furious attack 
on the Paraguayans. Lopez took a position on horseback 
behind the walls of his adobe house, ready to run at a 
moment's notice. It is said to have been the first time 
that he had been under fire since the war began. He was 
filled with terror from the first rattle of the musketry. 
At first the Paraguayans fought with desperate valor. After 
a four days' battle both armies were greatly reduced, and 
the Paraguayans almost utterly destroyed. Lopez saw 
that his men could not long sustain the bombardment. 
He prepared for flight with a body-guard. While his 
officers, after a week's valor, were leading their few remain- 
ing troops against the victorious allies, Lopez suddenly 
disappeared. There were not left of his army a thousand 
men. Lopez now began the flight of death. He was 
shot like a dog in a muddy stream, as he was struggling 
to recover himself from a lance thrust from his victori- 
ous pursuers. His last words are reputed to have been : 
"I die for my country." 

The battle of Pikysgry brought to an end the life of 
Lopez and tyranny in Paraguay. 



CHAPTER XX 

EDUCATION IN ARGENTINA AND THE OTHER 
REPUBLICS— SARMIENTO 

THE history of the progress of Argentina along edu- 
cational lines is that of Sarmiento, who once said : 
" The primary school is the foundation of national char- 
acter." 

This man read the works of Horace Mann, and visited 
the great apostle of education in America. The friendship 
between him and Mr. and Mrs. Mann and Miss Elizabeth 
Palmer Peabody had a great influence on his own char- 
acter, and through him, as the great educational President, 
upon Argentina. Senator Sumner was Sarmiento's friend 
during his diplomatic life. His biography has been written 
by Mrs. Mary Mann, who has also translated from the 
Spanish his " Civilization and Barbarism," under the title 
of " Life in the Argentine." 

He founded in Argentina the North American Normal 
School, a sign which was long seen in some of the prin- 
cipal cities, and the work of which prepared the way for 
universal education not only in Buenos Ayres but in the 
lands of the Andes. On one of the reliefs of his tomb in 
the recoleta of Buenos Ayres he is represented as a 
schoolmaster, with the children of the republic around him. 

His history reads like a romance, especially as inter- 

192 



SARMIENTO I 93 

preted by the sympathetic pen of Mary Mann. The in- 
fluences of Mrs. Mann and of her sister, Miss Peabody, 
live in Argentina, and that of the latter has found 
new expression in the growth of the kindergarten. 

Don Domingo F. Sarmiento was born in 1811. His 
family was a worthy one, but had suffered from war. 
He was descended on one side from a Saracen chief. 
His education was of the best, and his early accomplish- 
ments were many. 

He describes his education in his address at the laying 
of the corner-stone of the Sarmiento School in San Juan, 
in 1864. I quote from Mrs. Mann's translation. "The 
inspiration to consecrate myself to the education of the 
people came to me here in my youth. My labor of thirty 
years, that of serving the countries where I resided with 
schools, turns now to its point of departure, to the very 
simple idea of the importance of primary-school education 
over all other education, to insure the happiness of nations. 
If I had been born in Buenos Ayres or Cordova, or in 
Santiago de Chili, the primary education of this part of 
the country would not have arrived at this point, when 
all are striving for that end. I should have been pre- 
occupied with the brilliant university, and should have 
aspired to its honors. But I was born and educated 
amid the people of a province where there was no other 
education than that of the public school ; and the escuela 
de la patria was one of the first order, without a rival in 
any private one, conducted by a man so respected by the 
people and the government that at that time the school- 
master was looked upon as one of the first magistrates of 
the province. Observe, then, by what singular circum- 
stances the school, as an institution, was destined to 
acquire in my mind that supreme importance which I 
have never ceased to give it ; and how, at the close of my 



194 SOUTH AMERICA 

travels, I found in the United States that the school occu- 
pied the same place as in San Juan, and brought forth like 
results. The truth is that the first ideas in the child's 
mind keep the same relative position always, and, however 
slightly they meet with confirmation, grow and develop, 
and determine the career in life. If I should express all my 
thoughts I should say that the school of la patria, in San 
Juan, associated in my mind with the recollections of the 
only form of education with which I was acquainted, went 
forth with me from this province, and accompanied me in 
all my wanderings. In Chili it took the form of normal 
schools ; in Europe I connected it with the study of legis- 
lation ; in the United States with the spectacle of its 
wonderful results, of its temple school-houses, and of the 
prominent place it holds among the institutions of that 
country. In Buenos Ayres I reproduced it as a seed 
sown in good ground, and I return to do the same to-day 
in San Juan, by reestablishing the school of la patria, 
completed as an educational institution, and also as a 
democratic one, and I bring to it all the acquisitions made 
in my long and various travels. No longer confined to 
three halls that contained in all but three hundred pupils, 
we have here an edifice that will enable us to throw off 
the swaddling-clothes of infancy. To-day we lay the 
stone which consecrates to education these beginnings of 
an unfinished temple. And that you may see how ad- 
vanced ideas have grown, I will repeat to you what I have 
replied to those who have wished this edifice kept to its 
first destination, and who yet abandoned it to sterility and 
destruction. 

" At the corner of the next block, thirty steps from 
here, thirty years ago, I was a merchant's clerk, and here 
pursued my solitary studies. Even at that time I saw 



SARMIENTO 195 

that a spacious school-house might be erected within these 
walls, and, with your assistance, I now realize my thought 
after the delay of so many years." 

Of the influence of certain books on his life he says : 
" From that time I read every book that fell into my 
hands, without arrangement, with no other guide than the 
chance which brought them to me, or the knowledge I 
had acquired of their existence in the scanty libraries of 
San Juan. The first was the ' Life of Cicero ' by Middle- 
ton, with very fine plates, and in that book I lived a long 
time with the Romans. If I had then had half the means 
of doing it, I should have studied law to make myself an 
advocate and to defend causes like that distinguished 
orator, who was the object of my passionate love. The 
second was the ' Life of Franklin,' and no book has ever 
done me more good. The ' Life of Franklin ' was to me 
what ' Plutarch's Lives ' was to Rousseau, Henry IV., 
Mme. Roland, and so many others. I felt myself to 
be Franklin ; and why not ? I was very poor, like him ; I 
studied, like him ; and following in his footsteps, I might 
one day come, like him, to be a doctor ad lionorem, and 
to make for myself a place in letters and American politics. 
The ' Life of Franklin ' should be in every primary school. 
His example is so inspiring, the career he ran so glorious, 
that there would not be a boy at all well inclined who 
would not try to be a little Franklin, through that noble 
tendency of the human mind to imitate models of perfec- 
tion that commend themselves to it." 

His family was obliged to flee to Chili during the revo- 
lutions in San Juan. He there became a teacher, and 
also followed other occupations. He continued his studies. 
His thirst for knowledge was insatiable. It is said that 
for sixty days he translated a volume a day of the works 



1 96 SOUTH AMERICA 

of Sir Walter Scott. While this is without doubt an ex- 
aggeration, the statement will convey some idea of his 
industry in literary work. 

In 1836 he returned to San Juan destitute, as one 
coming back from exile. He sought the society of edu- 
cators, and founded there a college for young ladies. Its 
life lasted only two years, but furnished a model for the 
future. Here he had a library of the most scholarly works, 
which he carefully studied. He mastered the literature 
of the world. 

His methods of a long self-education he thus describes : 
" It was in 1837 that I learned Italian, in company with 
young Rawson, whose talents had then begun to show 
themselves strikingly. 

" Several years afterward, when editing the ' Mecorio ' in 
Santiago de Chili, I familiarized myself with Portuguese, 
which is very easy. In Paris, still later, I shut myself up 
fifteen days with a German grammar and dictionary, and 
translated six pages to the satisfaction of an intelligent 
man who gave me lessons. That supreme effort left me 
an incomplete scholar, although I thought I had caught 
the structure of that rebellious idiom. 

" I taught French to many persons for the sake of 
spreading good reading among them ; and to sundry of 
my friends I taught it without giving them lessons. To 
put them in the path which I had trodden, I said : ' You 
must not fail to study — I am coming.' And when I saw 
their self-love fairly piqued, I gave them a few lessons 
upon the way to study for themselves." 

He again emigrated to Chili with the intention of 
founding a college there. The idea of public education 
made his feet restless. He had but one vision. It was 
like that of Horace Mann. It dominated his life. 

The states of South America became jealous of their 



SARMIENTO 197 

heroes and national glory. Chili had caused to be erased 
from her historic records the noble name of the uncon- 
querable Argentine, San Martin. The chivalrous soul of 
Sarmiento was fired by the injustice. He wrote anew the 
true history of this man's deeds. He carried public opinion 
with him. The equestrian statue of San Martin now faces 
the Andes from the beautiful boulevard of Santiago. 
Sarmiento now became an editor, and thus sought to 
educate public opinion. He endeavored to organize 
primary instruction in Chili. He wrote the first spelling- 
book with accents, and founded the " Monitor for Schools." 
In 1842 he founded the first normal school- in South 
America, and for a time brought to it his own varied 
learning. In 1843 ne founded the first paper that was 
printed in Santiago de Chili. It was called " El Progreso " 
(" The Progress "). 

He was persecuted in Chili by some who were jealous 
of him. Envy called him a "foreigner." Slander made 
his life miserable. His person was in danger, but he lived 
in his purpose, and his purpose lived in him. His ambition 
was to be the apostle of education. 

He went to Europe. He there met Thiers, Guizot, 
Humboldt and Cobden. In the latter he found a con- 
genial spirit. In England he met with the great educa- 
tional report of Horace Mann. Here, too, he found a 
twin soul, and from his thought knew his brother worker 
in the interests of mankind. He returned to South 
America with a stronger enthusiasm for education. He 
succeeded in obtaining for educational purposes in Buenos 
Ayres $127,000, and erected a model school building in 
that city, which exerted a powerful influence on the 
thought of the whole country. In i860 he had the 
satisfaction of seeing 17,279 children in Buenos Ayres in 
the public schools. " Give me the department of schools," 



I98 SOUTH AMERICA 

he said; "this is all the future of the republic." In 1858 
he was elected a senator from Buenos Ayres, and secured 
an appropriation of lands worth $1,000,000 for public 
education. 

He became a great leader of the liberal party, and 
minister of state. He was assigned by the national 
government to the office of minister to the United States. 
Here he met the great educators of North America. On 
his return he was elected President of the Argentine 
Republic. He led the country into that period that will 
be remembered as the golden age of its history. He 
made education the glory of Argentina, and did a similar 
work in Chili and Peru. 

He died at Asuncion, Paraguay, September 11, 1888. 
His life was one of beneficence. Under his influence 
the republic made use of her great opportunity. The 
children of the country will ever honor his name. The 
progress of education in South America has largely fol- 
lowed the views of Sarmiento, who especially valued the 
primary and the normal school. 

The population of the South American republics is now 
increasing so rapidly that statistics are altered yearly, but 
the following facts from recent official reports will give 
the reader a view of the educational field outside of the 
Argentine Republic : 

Bolivia, 1893. — Area, 784,544 square miles; divided 
into 9 departments, the littoral being occupied by Chili ; 
population, 2,333,350, of which 1,000,000 are Indians of 
pure blood, and 600,000 are Creoles ; schools, 493, and 4 
universities. 

Brazil, 1893. — Area, 3,251,829 English square miles; 
divided into 20 states ; population uncertain, but exceed- 
ing 14,000,000; immigration in 1891, 216,659; schools, 
public, private and normal, 7500, with 300,000 pupils; 



SARMIENTO 1 99 

especial attention given to primary and normal-school 
education. 

Chili, 1893. — Area, 290,828 square miles, divided into 
23 provinces; population, 2,817,552 (now 3,267,441); 
1201 free public schools, with 101,954 pupils; national 
library, 70,000 volumes. 

COLOMBIA.— Area, 504,773 English square miles; 
population, 4,000,000, including 220,000 Indians; schools, 

16 normal, 1734 primary; primary education free. 
ECUADOR. — Area, 248,350 square miles; divided into 

17 provinces; population, 1,272,065; schools, 856, with 
1 137 teachers; 17 journals are published in the republic. 

PARAGUAY. — Area, 88,807 square miles; population, 
600,000 ; primary schools compulsory ; the Normal Col- 
lege has 15 professors. 

PERU. — Area uncertain, estimated at 483,147 square 
miles; population, 2,621,844; schools, 11 77 primary; 
library of University of Lima, 20,000 volumes. 

URUGUAY. — Area, 72,172 square miles; population, 
706,524; schools, 470 primary; primary education com- 
pulsory between the ages of six and fourteen ; the normal 
school has 19 professors. 

Venezuela. — Area, 599,538 square miles; population, 
2 >3 2 3>5 2 7; schools, 141 5 ; primary instruction obligatory. 



CHAPTER XXI 

DOM PEDRO II. AND THE PROGRESS OF BRAZIL — 
THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZON 

THE history of the progress of Brazil is inwoven with 
that of the beneficent Emperor, Dom Pedro II. He 
was crowned July 18, 1841, at the age of fourteen and a 
half years. The sixtieth anniversary of his birthday, 
celebrated on December 2, 1885, was made the occasion 
of the liberation of one hundred and thirty-three slaves by 
a private subscription. During the ceremony of conferring 
liberty on these slaves, the emperor said : " I hope that God 
will give me life to bestow liberty upon the last slave in 
Brazil." His hope was fulfilled. After a work so benefi- 
cent he was compelled to abdicate and to leave the country. 

" The emperor," says Andrews (" Brazil: Its Conditions 
and Prospects "), " is six feet tall. He has an intellectual 
head, eyes of grayish blue, beard full and gray. He is 
erect and has a manly bearing. Being now upward of 
sixty years of age, he is not, of course, so sentimental a 
man as when, at thirty years of age, he used to talk to 
American travelers about our poets." 

The last touch of this picture draws us toward him. 
Dom Pedro II. loved the poems of the Quaker poet Whit- 
tier. At a reception in Boston, tendered to him by the 
Radical Club, he met the poet. Dom Pedro II. was him- 

200 



THE PROGRESS OF BRAZIL 201 

self a poet. He thus expresses his opinion of the position 
to which he had been called and of the duties it entailed. 
This opinion found practical expression in every act of his 
long and illustrious reign. 

If I am pious, clement, just, 

I 'm only what I ought to be : 
The scepter is a mighty trust, 

A great responsibility. 

And he who rules with faithful hand, 

With depth of thought and breadth of range, 

The sacred laws should understand, 
But must not at his pleasure change. 

The chair of justice is the throne : 
Who takes it bows to higher laws ; 

The public good, and not his own, 
Demands his care in every cause. 

Translation of D. Bates. 

The political affairs in Brazil from the beginning of the 
republican movement in South America had had a liberal 
tendency. Dom Pedro II. was only five years of age 
when, by his father's abdication, he succeeded to the 
throne. The regents during his minority were chosen 
for him in accordance with the public will. He was de- 
clared of age before he was fifteen, and the heart of the 
boy emperor, from the first days of his reign, went out to 
the people who had desired to see him thus early upon 
the throne. In 1843 he married the Princess Theresa 
Christina Maria of Naples. Two princes, who died young, 
and two princesses were the result of this union. 

He offered aid to General Urquiza in the war against 
Rosas, and thus secured the free navigation of the Rio de 
la Plata. 



202 SOUTH AMERICA 

In 1850 the slave-trade was suppressed in Brazil. This 
was the first step toward the emancipation of slaves, an 
act which gave Dom Pedro II. a place among the greatest 
benefactors of humanity. In 1800 Brazil possessed a 
population of 3,200,000, nearly one half of which was 
negro slaves. A law for the gradual abolition of slavery 
was passed in 187 1. This was followed by the abolition 
of slavery in 1888. 

In 1865 Dom Pedro declared war against the tyrant 
Lopez of Paraguay, who had refused the free navigation 
of the Paraguay River, one of the sources of supply of 
the great province of Matto-Grosso in Brazil. The war 
ended in a complete victory for Brazil. It cost Brazil 
$315,000,000. 

Years of peaceful progress in Brazil followed the Para- 
guayan war. The emperor gave himself to the study of 
the welfare of his people. He shared his great revenues 
with the poor. The freedom of the press was guaranteed ; 
education was encouraged, and institutions of beneficence 
founded. 

Emancipation was followed by a great European im- 
migration to Brazil. In the single year 1888, 132,000 
immigrants arrived. 

On an island in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro, now 
called Villegaignon, but named Coligny by the first 
settlers, the French Huguenots, in 1555, planted one of 
the first Protestant settlements in the New World. The 
colony was reinforced from Geneva by a missionary 
colony. Thus the first Protestant missionary work in 
America was begun more than a half-century before the 
coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to New Plymouth, or three 
hundred and fifty years ago. 

In 18 18 two thousand Swiss colonists founded Novo 
Fribourgo, one hundred and fifty miles north of Rio de 



THE PROGRESS OF BRAZIL 203 

Janeiro. The place is very beautiful and healthful, and 
is a favorite summer resort of the inhabitants of Rio de 
Janeiro. 

German immigrants founded the colony of Sao Leopoldo 
on the Rio Grande do Sul in 1824. The colony grew to 
40,000 inhabitants. There are to-day some 250,000 in- 
habitants of German origin in Brazil. They are prosper- 
ous, and are constantly growing in numbers, resources and 
wealth. Sao Leopoldo was the mother of German colo- 
nies. Out of this colony forty-three others sprang. 

The German colony of Santa Cruz was founded in 1849, 
and has now a population of more than 5000. These 
Germans cultivate corn, rice, tobacco, sugar-cane, flax and 
the vine. 

The colony of Blumenau was founded in i860, by Dr. 
Herman Blumenau, and has a population of 11,000 or 
more. 

The colony of Santa Leopoldina, on the river Santa 
Maria, cultivates coffee and sugar-cane. Its export of the 
former numbers millions of pounds. There are several 
coffee-producing colonies in the different states. 

At times the ocean passage of immigrants has been 
paid by the Brazilian government. Under the provision 
of the law of 1867, newly arrived immigrants, while await- 
ing transportation, were lodged and fed at the expense of 
the government. On taking possession of the government 
land they were furnished with food for ten days. They 
were given eleven dollars in money, ten acres of land and 
a temporary house. The immigrant was debited with such 
advances, but was allowed a long time in which to pay 
the loan. 

On November 15, 1889, after a bloodless revolution, 
Brazil became a republic. The republican flag took the 
place of the imperial banner. It represented twenty-one 



204 SOUTH AMERICA 

states — the United States of Brazil. The emperor sailed 
for Portugal, bringing to a close his beneficent and illus- 
trious reign. 

The history of the navigation of the Amazon is full of 
dramatic incidents. No river promises to contribute more 
to the world's development. It is three thousand miles 
long. Its branches would add to its main current another 
three thousand miles. It rises in the Andean Alps, four- 
teen thousand feet above the sea, and dashes down through 
the crystal Cordilleras to the plains. 

The first voyager on the Amazon was Francisco de 
Orellana, a Spanish adventurer. His story, which filled 
Europe with wonder, is as follows : Gonzalo Pizarro, the 
half-brother of the conqueror of Peru, received the ap- 
pointment of governor of Quito. He had heard wonder- 
ful tales of the land of cinnamon, and of a mighty river 
that leaped down the Andes and went rushing to the sea. 
He wished to visit the land of spices and to discover this 
river. For this purpose he mustered three hundred and 
fifty Spaniards and four thousand Indians. He gathered 
for the expedition a great quantity of provisions. 

In the year 1540 he set out on this expedition to the 
cinnamon-groves. He marched through the old land of 
the Incas as in a triumphal procession. When he came to 
the cold, bare, lofty ranges of the Andes, among new 
tribes of barbarous people, his men began to suffer. 
Besides the cold of the Cordilleras, he met with an earth- 
quake which rent the earth asunder, poured forth sul- 
phurous vapors, and swallowed up a village. Five 
hundred houses were destroyed. On descending the 
eastern slopes of the Andes, the cold changed to heat, and 
heavy thunder-clouds hung over the passes. After 
months of travel they reached the land of cinnamon. 
They came to the river Napo, one of the tributaries of 



THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZON 205 

the Amazon, a river that, in this region, rolls foaming and 
tumbling down toward the plains. It is said that the roar 
of this river may be heard for leagues. It flows through 
a pathless wilderness, gigantic forests inhabited by the 
alligator, the boa, and an unknown people almost as wild 
as the beasts. 

In this expedition was one Francisco de Orellana, an 
ambitious cavalier. Gonzalo Pizarro caused a boat to be 
built. He intrusted to this man an expedition in search 
of food, for his men were dying for the want of supplies. 
The last of their horses had been eaten, and the gloomy 
forests offered no adequate sustenance for so many men. 

Orellana had heard that the Napo emptied into a greater 
river, and, with high hopes, he started with his boats and 
a crew of fifty men. He sailed down to the plains, over 
the foaming currents, and found a mighty stream. Orel- 
lana desired to explore this majestic river. His duty was 
to return to the famished men he had left, but his ambi- 
tion rose above his sense of duty. Whither did this grand 
river flow? To the ocean? If so, to follow it to the 
ocean would make him famous. He continued his course 
on the broad river, and he and his companions were borne 
through lands of wonder to the ocean. He reached the 
isle of Cahagua, and there found passage to Spain. He 
thrilled the Spanish court with his story, and obtained 
royal permission to occupy the lands that he had dis- 
covered. 

In his reports of this perfidious expedition he claimed 
to have found a nation of Amazons, women warriors like 
those fabled to have lived in Scythia. He did not live to 
fulfil his dream of repeating the deeds of a Pizarro. His 
marvelous story of the Amazons gave the name to the 
river. 

The Amazon was first described in modern travel by 



206 SOUTH AMERICA 

M. de la Condamine, a French traveler, who embarked 
upon it in 1743. It was explored in 1799 by Humboldt, 
and in 1867 by Professor Agassiz. 

In 1866 the Peruvian government organized an expedi- 
tion to ascertain if it would be possible to establish com- 
munication between Lima and the town of Magro, at the 
foot of the Andes in Upper Peru. After many difficulties 
it found the desired waterway to the tributary of the 
Amazon. From Magro to Lima is a distance of four 
hundred or more miles. It is proposed to make over this 
route a new waterway to the Amazon, and so from Peru 
to Para, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 

The india-rubber trade began to fill the Amazon with 
river craft. The great ocean steamers followed, and to-day 
a person may travel by steamer from New York to Para, 
from Para to Maranon, and thence to Peru by a continu- 
ous waterway. 

The navigation of the Amazon has of late been devel- 
oped in a wonderful manner. The report of the Bureau 
of American Republics (Brazil) says of this development : 
" The possibilities of the navigation of the Amazon and 
its affluents have only begun to be developed ; and yet 
the following ' magnificent distances ' are navigated 
already by steamers : from Belem (Para) to Manaos, 
1 100 miles ; Manaos to Iquitos, Peru, by river Solimoens, 
1350 miles; Manaos to Santa Isabella, by river Negro, 
470 miles; Manaos to Hyutanahan, by river Purus, 1080 
miles ; Manaos to Sao Antonio, by river Madeira, 470 
miles; Belem to Bayao, by river Tocantins, 156 miles; 
Leopoldina to Santa Maria, 570 miles — making a total of 
5196 miles of steam-navigation on the Amazon and its 
southern affluents ; and this total does not include the navi- 
gation of the branches of the above-named rivers, which 
would increase the amount by some 3000 miles more." 



THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZON 207 

Rubber, coffee, sugar, cocoa and mandioca (tapioca) 
here find one of the finest soils in the world. 

The coffee-plant was brought from Africa to Brazil. 
In 1800 the empire exported 13 bags of coffee; to-day 
the republic exports 6,000,000 bags of 132 pounds each. 

The port cities are growing populous and rich with 
increasing commerce. Rio has a population of more than 
400,000, Bahia of nearly 200,000, and Pernambuco of 
150,000 or more. 

Para, the port city of the Amazon, called Belem in Brazil, 
has a harbor in which are found ships from all parts of the 
commercial world. Through this port pass the growing 
imports and exports of the broad Amazon valley. From 
January to July, in 1888, there were exported from Para 
rubber to the value of $6,462,000, and cocoa to the value of 
$670,000. The city of Para is one of the most rapidly 
growing commercial centers of South America. 

Rio, with its beautiful harbor, is the port from which 
coffee finds its way to many lands, but most largely 
to the United States. In 1888, in eleven months, 3,330,- 
185 bags were exported. The state of Sao Paulo, which 
connects with Rio, is the great coffee region of Brazil, 
and is the home of the planters whose enterprise has 
caused them to be called the " Brazilian Yankees." 

The Golconda of South America is the diamond region 
of Brazil, known as the Serro do Frio, or the " Mountains 
of Cold." The diamond district is small in extent. It was 
once so jealously guarded that no one was allowed to enter 
it without special permission. Travelers thither were 
escorted by soldiers. They were not allowed to remain 
for any considerable time. The town where the officers 
and explorers resided was called Tejuco. The mines were 
discovered by accident in the early part of the last cen- 
tury. Their product then belonged to the crown. 



208 SOUTH AMERICA 

The discovery of these mines is associated with a very- 
curious story. The lofty, cold range of Serro do Frio was 
explored for gold. In searching for the precious metal 
some singular stones, supposed to be pebbles, were found. 
Their luminous qualities and geometrical forms excited the 
curiosity of the negro laborers, who showed them to their 
masters. The laborers collected these shining pebbles as 
curiosities. Card-playing was a favorite amusement in 
these cold, lonesome mountain regions, and it became a 
custom to use these luminous pebbles as counters in the 
game. One day an officer who had been in India arrived in 
this region. He saw shining pebbles, and was led to ex- 
amine them on account of their geometrical forms. He 
had a suspicion that they might have value. He compared 
the weight of these pebbles with that of other pebbles, and 
found a great difference. The result led him to believe 
that they were gems. He sent some of them to Lisbon to 
be examined. The Dutch consul there saw them. " They 
are diamonds," he said. The Dutch consul forwarded 
some of them to Holland, where they were pronounced to 
be diamonds equal in value to those of Golconda. 

A more extraordinary story is associated with the 
Braganza diamond of Brazil, the largest diamond in the 
world, once the glory of the jewels of Portugal. " It was 
found," says Mawe, "in 1791. Three men convicted of 
capital offenses, named Antonio de Sousa, Jose Felix 
Gomez, and Tomas de Sousa, were sent into exile, into 
the wilderness of Morias, among cannibals and wild beasts. 
They searched for treasures. They were forbidden to 
enter any city or to hold communication with the world. 
While washing for gold in the Abaite River, in a dry 
season, this diamond gleamed upon them. There was a 
law against diamond-washing. The three exiles took the 
wonderful gem to a priest. He had an honest, trusting 



THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZON 200. 

soul, and he ventured to lead them to Villa Rica, where 
the governor of Minas then lived. Notwithstanding the 
law, he presented the diamond to the governor, and asked 
him to test its worth. This was quickly done, and the 
priest was commended. ' I want you to pardon these men,' 
said the priest. The pardon was granted. The King of 
Portugal confirmed the pardon granted by the governor." 

The discovery of the value of india-rubber followed 
the diamond excitement, which latter lasted from 1728 to 
the close of the last century. The india-rubber groves of 
the Amazon became the source of a commerce more rich 
than the diamond-fields. For a century the uses of rubber 
have multiplied, and the rubber-tree has come to be one 
of the most beneficent products of the world. 

Brazil is a prolific land. Her territory could sustain an 
immense population. Her natural products are inex- 
haustibly rich. She has diamond-fields indeed, but her 
soil and her forests are the sources of her prosperity. 
The mighty arms of the Amazon will forever gather her 
wealth to feed the world. 

Brazil faces the future with such abundant and unde- 
veloped resources that her progress in the twentieth cen- 
tury is likely to be phenomenal. We cannot wonder that 
Dom Pedro II. left the beautiful land with regret, and that 
the empress, when compelled to live in other lands, lan- 
guished and died. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLICS AT LIMA, 1 847 — THE 
PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST— BALMACEDA— 
GUIANA— THE PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS, 1889-90 

THE Panama Congress, although a partial failure, sug- 
gested the destiny of the Pan-American republics. 
The spirit of that congress was unity, peace and progress. 
"Adelante!" (" Onward!") became the order of the march 
of the South American states. The genius of Bolivar 
caused the new republics of the Sun to see their future 
possibilities and opportunities. The lands of the palm, 
of the Cordilleras and the Southern Cross could become 
new empires of the world. The peoples of the outworn 
tyrannies of the East, the earliest nations of the world, 
would come to them. 

Five years after the Panama Congress Mexico sent out 
an invitation to the Southern republics to meet in a new 
congress at Tacubaya, Panama or Lima. The plan failed. 
In 1838 Mexico renewed the invitation. The favorite 
scheme of Bolivar had taken hold of the hearts of the new 
republics. The Liberator, though dead, lived in this spirit 
that he had inspired. Mexico made this second appeal 
with these words, than which nothing could be more noble : 
" We desire the union and alliance of the new states for 
the purposes of defense against foreign invasion, and the 



PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 211 

acceptance of friendly mediation of the neutral states for 
the settlement of all disagreements and disputes, of what- 
ever nature, which might happen to arise between sister 
republics." The plan again did not take form, though the 
spirit of it lived and grew. 

In 1840 New Granada joined with Mexico in inviting the 
South American republics to a conference, and suggested 
the historic Tacubaya as the place of the meeting. The 
suggestion did not meet with a favorable response. 

In 1847 the republics of Bolivia, Chili, Ecuador, New 
Granada and Peru decided to hold a congress at Lima. 
They invited the other republics to join them. The 
invitation was also extended to the United States. The 
congress met at Lima, on December 11, 1847. It 
held nineteen meetings. The result was a treaty of 
confederation. The United States was then at war with 
Mexico, so these republics did not take part in the con- 
ference. At this congress there was brought forward a 
secret plan of Spain to form Cuba, Porto Rico and Spanish 
Santo Domingo into a monarchy for the purpose of re- 
conquering New Granada and the ancient possessions of 
the Peninsula on the Spanish Main. 

The expedition of General Walker in Nicaragua caused 
a new alarm, and another continental congress assembled, 
this time at the city of Santiago, on September 15, 1856. 
Here again the great plans of Bolivar for the purpose of 
continental unity and peace were discussed. 

In 1864 the government of Peru issued an invitation to 
all of the Spanish republics to meet in congress at Lima. 
This congress met there on November 14, 1864. It 
was opened by the celebration of the birth of Simon 
Bolivar. 

In 1 88 1 Colombia issued a call for a congress to be 
held at Panama. This was to bring together the repre- 



212 SOUTH AMERICA 

sentatives of all the republics of the western world. The 
United States was invited to be represented. The purpose 
of this congress was to unite the republics of America 
against foreign dictation and to promote among them 
fraternity, progress and peace. The Argentine Republic, 
in accepting the invitation, said : " Peace is certainly most 
necessary for Spanish America. Europe no longer enter- 
tains thoughts of conquests or recoveries. These were 
abandoned in view of our unconquerable attitude." The 
proposed congress was never held, owing to the disturbed 
relations into which the republics were unexpectedly 
thrown. 

But the soul of the movement lived, and another 
congress was convoked, to meet at the city of Washington, 
in 1882. The call for this congress came from our own 
land. Mr. Blaine, from the Department of State, issued a 
manifesto in which are the following notable words : 
" For some years a growing disposition has been mani- 
fested by certain states in Central and South America to 
refer disputes affecting grave questions of international 
relationship and boundaries to arbitration rather than the 
sword. It has been on several occasions a source of pro- 
found satisfaction to the government of the United States 
to see that this country is in a measure looked up to by 
all the American powers as their friend and mediator. 
The existence of this growing tendency convinces the 
President that the time is ripe for a proposal that shall 
enlist the good will and active cooperation of all the states 
of the western hemisphere, both north and south, in the 
interests of humanity, for the common weal of the na- 
tions." Internal dissensions in South America caused this 
proposed congress to be postponed till 1890. 

Thus the principles of Bolivar grew. The Panama 



PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 21 3 

Congress, one of the first ever held in the interests of 
humanity, did not fail. It was to find expression in the 
International American Conference of 1889-90. 

Before considering the proceedings of this congress I 
shall describe the growth of independence among the 
South American republics. 

The word "Chili," spelled also "Chile," is probably- 
derived from the Quichua chiri, cold. The plains and 
gardens of the flowery empire lie under the snow. Acon- 
cagua rises into the silence of eternal wonder, 22,427 
feet high. The historic mountain of Maypo is 1 7,664 feet 
high. The Uspallata Pass, from Argentina to Chili, is 
13,125 feet above the sea-level. Chili is a land of fruit, 
of pastures and waving palms, but one looks from the 
vegetation to mountain-crowns of snow. These mountains 
begin in the wild Patagonian seas and sink at Darien, to 
rise again in the Central American Andes. 

The Inca Yupanqui led his army across the desert of 
Atacama to conquer a part of Chili. The Peruvian do- 
minion of Chili ceased with the death of Atahualpa, 1533. 
In the latter days of the two republics Chili has come to 
dominate over the rich deserts of Peru. 

After the war of liberation of Chili under San Martin, 
Chili became the seat of the naval operations on the west 
coast, under the lead of Lord Cochrane. The national 
government began in 181 7, under the dictatorship of 
General O'Higgins, who held the office until 1823. He 
was succeeded by General Freire. The government by 
dictators lasted until 1828, when, under the administration 
of General Pinto, a constitution was promulgated. On 
May 25, 1833, the present constitution was promulgated. 
Under it a succession of presidents has governed. These 
presidents have for the most part been able men, with 



214 SOUTH AMERICA 

noble aspirations for the progress of the country. The 
Araucanian race to-day is not as large as the European 
and North American colonists. 

Chili has a present area of 300,000 square miles. The 
population, after the estimate of 1889, is 3,413,576. The 
foreign population is something more than 80,000, of whom 
about 35,000 are Peruvians. The Germans number about 
7000, and the English upward of 5000. The foreign 
colonization south of Concepcion is almost wholly German. 

By the constitution of 1833, the sovereign power is 
declared to lie in the people. The legislative power is 
administered by a national Congress consisting of a 
Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. The Chamber of 
Deputies is composed of one hundred or more members. 
They hold office for three years. The President is the 
executive, and the supreme head of the nation. He is 
elected for five years, after which he may not be re- 
elected until the expiration of another five years. 

The present constitution of Chili, framed under the 
influence of Portales in 1833, may be considered to be the 
beginning of the new progress. The railway system has 
aided this progress, as the building of roads had done in 
no other land. Religious toleration followed, and educa- 
tion came in through this open door. The population 
increased as the world began to see the opulent valleys of 
the mountains whose eternal whiteness crowns the western 
world. Artisans and agriculturists, the true army of the 
future, came. In 1843 Chili had 1,083,801 inhabitants; 
in 1854, 1,819,222; in 1865, 2,075,971. Then the min- 
ing industry began, and the unemployed world flocked 
toward the long shining strip of land on the calm Pacific. 
Valparaiso became a city of 75,000, Santiago of 175,000 
inhabitants. At the beginning of the year 1879, Chili had 
more than 1000 miles of railroads, and 15,370 miles of 







111! 



1: 'm tti'ii 1 



l:MII^M 



K;: >ii. i iii 




PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 215 

carriage-roads. Her rainless territory, the nitrate region, 
became a great source of wealth. This district, now the 
principal source of supply of artificial plant-food, has a 
littoral line of some 400 miles. The money value of this 
region cannot be computed. The world gets its supply 
of nitrate and iodines there. 

In 1884 Albert G. Browne, Jr., opened an address before 
the American Geographical Society with the following 
words : " I will apply the evening you have invited me 
to occupy to some considerations of the growing power of 
the republic of Chili, on the Pacific. There are sound 
reasons why the United States should be the foremost of 
American powers whose territory borders on the Pacific, 
and the fact that we are suffering ourselves to be surpassed 
there in political influence, in commerce and naval strength, 
by a country whose population is less than a twentieth of 
ours merits more notice than is accorded to it by Congress 
or the public." 

The silver ores in the province of Atacama were dis- 
covered by a shepherd as late as 1832. The wonderful 
events on the desert of Tarapaca are of later date. Val- 
paraiso was until a half-century ago little more than a 
calling-place for ships going around the Horn. 

The formation of Alta Peru, the Switzerland of America, 
into the republic of Bolivia was a menace to the power of 
Chili. The latter republic attempted to prevent the union 
of the republics. 1 

Jose Manuel Balmaceda was born in Santiago in 1842. 
He came of an ancient and honorable Castilian family. 
He was educated for the priesthood. He had an ardent 
nature, and quick sympathies with whatever tended to 
the advancement of mankind. He joined the Reform 
Club, and became a leader of progressive Chilians. He 
sought to liberalize the Chilian constitution. He was 



2l6 SOUTH AMERICA 

elected to Congress at the early age of twenty-eight. He 
became the natural leader of the Liberal party, and young 
Chili saw in him a rising star. He instituted reforms. 
He favored universal education. He rose to be a senator, 
a minister of the interior, and a foreign minister. In 1886 
he was elected President of Chili by an overwhelming 
majority. He was inaugurated amid the plaudits of the 
people. At that period he seemed to be their idol. 
Under his influence Chili advanced ; public education was 
stimulated ; improvements multiplied. Those were pros- 
perous days. The Conservative party in Chili was from 
the first opposed to his progressive ideas and enterprises. 
Its opposition grew. The old capitalists thought their 
investments were in danger. The Conservatives became 
a controlling power again. The heart of Balmaceda was 
in the progress of his reforms, and he at first sought to 
retain power by indirection. He caused himself to be 
made Dictator. His ungoverned will was his ruin. The 
Conservatives organized a powerful movement against his 
usurped authority, and defeated him in a battle near 
Valparaiso. After the battle Balmaceda vanished. It was 
suspected that he had found refuge on an American ship. 
He was discovered in the Argentine consulate. Rather 
than be captured, he ended his short life by a pistol-shot 
on December 19, 1891. 

Peru, the land of the ideal government of the Incas, that 
gave to the world the cinchona, the potato, and a wealth 
of new varieties of flowers, that enriched Spain with gold, 
and the worn-out lands of many countries with plant-food, 
has been subject to many misfortunes in the last half of 
the century ; but she has made progress in education 
and the enterprises of industrial art. 

The presidents and chiefs of Peru from 1829 to 1844 
were as follows: Agustin Gamarra (from 1829 to 1833); 



PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 21 J 

Luis Jose Orbegoso (1833-35); Felipe Santiago de Sala- 
verry (1835-36); Andres Santa Cruz (1836-39) ; Agustin 
Gamarra (1839-41); Manuel Mendenez (1841-44). In 
1845 General Ramon Cortilla was elected President of 
Peru, and there followed a long period of peace and pros- 
perity. 

We have spoken of the flag of the Army of the Andes, 
the banner of the Sun. The flags of the patriotic move- 
ments were usually adopted before the declarations of 
independence. They sprang into life spontaneously. 

The flag of Chili had an American origin. In 18 12 
the first printing-press was established in Chili, and on 
February 13 appeared the first newspaper there, called 
" La Aurora de Chili," edited by a priest. With the 
printing-press from the United States came Mr. Poinsett, 
a patriotic consular agent, whose heart beat in sympathy 
with the new ideas of the country. This man celebrated 
the Independence Day of his own country, at the consulate 
on July 4, 18 12. He unfurled the Stars and Stripes. 
With it he launched in the air a new flag of three colors 
with one star in its corner. The one star stood for Chili. 
The three colors became the cockade of the patriots. On 
September 30 the tricolor and one star was adopted as 
the national ensign. When the Republic of Colombia was 
decreed in the eventful year of 18 19, the tricolored flag 
raised by Miranda in 1806 became the national emblem. 
This was the flag of yellow, blue and red, the national en- 
sign that Venezuela had borne from the days of Miranda, 
in her struggles for liberty. The flag of the Sun that San 
Martin had borne over the Andes, with colors of white 
and scarlet, was made on October 24, 1820, the escutcheon 
of the republic of Peru. The figure was that of the sun 
rising over the mountains, on a tranquil sea. 

The republics of South America began their indepen- 



2l8 SOUTH AMERICA 

dent existences as follows : The first declaration of inde- 
pendence in South America was made by the Congress 
that convened in Caracas on March 2, 181 1, one of the 
deputies to which was Miranda. This man urged an im- 
mediate declaration of the independence of Venezuela, 
and carried the measure of July 5. On the same day the 
flag of yellow, red and blue was adopted as the national 
ensign. The province of Cartagena followed, declaring 
herself an independent state on November 11, 181 1. 
Argentina made her declaration of independence at the 
Congress at Tucuman on July 9, 18 16, under the influence 
of San Martin. The general of the Army of the Andes 
believed in the independence of the country from Spain, 
and in the rule of the representatives of the people ; but at 
one period of his life he seems to have looked favorably 
upon the English form of government, a constitutional 
monarchy. He was a conservative man. He weighed 
everything, and desired to found things that would last. 
His conservatism brought him under the criticism of those 
of more advanced and radical views. He was, however, 
more concerned with the gaining of the independence of 
the country than deciding upon forms of government. 

Bolivar gradually came to believe in the unity of the 
republics of South America under the rulers elected by the 
people. He at one time held the views afterward advo- 
cated in some measure by the Pan-American Congress, or 
International American Conference, of 1890. The Chilian 
people had voted for independence on November 17, 181 7. 
On January 20, 1818, the independence was proclaimed 
at Talca, and afterward at Santiago by a solemn assembly 
in the great square. Among the first who swore on the lat- 
ter occasion to support the independence were San Martin 
and the bishop of Santiago. The independence of Peru 
was proclaimed with an inspiring ceremony, in the great 



PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 2IO. 

square at Lima, on July 28, 1821. San Martin, who had 
been present at the birth of two republics, here displayed 
the new flag of Peru amid the thunders of cannon and the 
vivas of the people. The triumphal procession of liberty 
passed through the streets of rainless Lima amid showers 
of flowers. We have already spoken of the declaration 
of independence of Brazil. Several provinces declared 
themselves independent, as Panama and Maracaybo, but 
later reunited with the republics of which they naturally 
formed a part. The year 1830 found South America 
practically free and independent, but in the unsettled 
state that for a time generally follows a radical change of 
government. The independent republic of Venezuela, 
New Granada, and a part of the country now known as 
Ecuador was proclaimed on May 9, 1821. The constitu- 
tion of Bolivia was formed in 1826, and in 1830 Simon 
Bolivar retired from active life, being voted the " first and 
best citizen of Colombia," and allotted a pension of three 
hundred thousand dollars a year. From that date the 
republics of the South were, as a rule, left to work out 
their own political destiny. 

South America was now a land of republics, except a 
territory between the Amazon and the Orinoco, called 
Guiana. This remained a foreign possession, subject to 
England, France and Holland, and was divided into three 
parts, English Guiana, French Guiana, Dutch Guiana. 

British Guiana abounds in forests of gigantic trees ; in 
beautiful flowers, among them the Victoria regia ; and in 
wonderful orchids. It produces sugar, coffee, cotton, 
cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon and tobacco. It is the home of 
the jaguar, puma, tapir and peccary. The boundary of 
the territory west of the Essequibo River, between British 
and Dutch Guiana, became a matter of dispute after the 
discovery of gold within the mid-river region. A com- 



220 SOUTH AMERICA 

mission was appointed to settle the question. The popu- 
lation of British Guiana in 1891 was over 288,000. 

Dutch Guiana (Surinam) lies between British and French 
Guiana, and has like productions. Its area is 46,060 
square miles. Its population in 1890 was 56,873. 

French Guiana is the smallest of the three divisions. 
It is a fertile country, abundantly watered, a land of 
coffee, cane, cocoa, indigo and spices. It had a popula- 
tion in 1 89 1 of 25,796. Cayenne is the seat of govern- 
ment. 

The action of the Congress of the United States which 
preceded the decision to call the International American 
Conference of 1889-90 was briefly as follows : On January 
21, 1880, the Hon. David Davis of Illinois, at the request 
of Hinton Rowan Helper, the publicist, introduced into 
Congress a bill for the encouragement of closer commer- 
cial relations between the United States and the republics 
of Mexico, Central America, the empire of Brazil, and the 
several republics of South America. The bill called for a 
conference in regard to the building of an international 
railway " running from the northern to the southern ter- 
mini of the eastern slope of the great mountain-chain, 
which would open that vast interior region to our manu- 
factures and commerce." 

On April 24, 1882, Senator Morgan of Alabama intro- 
duced a bill into the Senate, a sentence of which reads 
thus : " That the President of the United States be, and he 
hereby is, requested to invite all the governments of the 
said [Latin-American] republics and the empire of Brazil 
to send delegates to meet in the city of Washington." 
Adverse action followed. 

In 1884 tne Senate took favorable action on a similar 
bill, which was followed by like action of the House of 
Representatives. This latter bill was accompanied by a 



PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 221 

report which clearly set forth the great opportunity of the 
United States in South America. 

As a result of this legislation a South American com- 
mission was authorized. On January 26, 1886, a joint 
resolution was introduced into the House of Representa- 
tives to promote arbitration among the republics of 
America. 

The International American Conference assembled at 
Washington, October 2, 1889. The government of the 
United States had appropriated seventy-five thousand dol- 
lars for the expenses of this conference. The proceedings 
were published, at public expense, in the English, Spanish 
and Portuguese languages. Later an additional appro- 
priation of fifty thousand dollars was made. Eighteen 
invitations were extended to as many different states. 
While here the visiting delegates made a tour to the com- 
mercial and manufacturing cities of the country. A 
special train conveyed the party through the leading states, 
a distance of nearly six thousand miles. The party re- 
turned to Washington on November 13, after an absence 
of forty-two days. 

The business of the conference began on November 18. 
The Hon. James G. Blaine was elected president. After 
organization the congress adjourned until January 2, 1890. 

At this congress reciprocity and the commercial rela- 
tions of the Latin-American republics were discussed. 
Senor Quintana said : " The real constitution of the 
famous Council of the Amphictyons, from which the 
constitution of the United States was taken, was nothing 
more than a great council of arbitrators between the towns 
of Greece." Said Senor Zelaya: " Civilization, humanity 
and Christianity cry out for this remedy of arbitration for 
all conflicts in the future which may arise between Ameri- 
can nations." 



222 SOUTH AMERICA 

The three principal topics that engaged the attention of 
this assembly were the international railroad, the Nica- 
ragua Canal, and arbitration. 

In a letter to the President, May 12, 1890, Mr. Blaine 
submitted a plan " for a preliminary survey for a railway 
line to connect the commercial cities of the American 
hemisphere." He wrote: " Under the generous and pro- 
gressive policy of President Diaz the railways of Mexico 
have been extended southward as well as northward, and 
toward the two oceans. The development of the Argen- 
tine system has been equally rapid. In the other repub- 
lics similar enterprise has been shown. Each has its local 
lines of railway, and to connect them all and furnish the 
people of the southern continent the means of convenient 
and comfortable intercourse with their neighbors north of 
the isthmus is an undertaking worthy of the encourage- 
ment and cooperation of this government. In no other 
way could the government and the people of the United 
States contribute so much to the development and pros- 
perity of our sister republics, and at the same time to the 
expansion of our commerce." 

President Harrison, in submitting the report, May 19, 
1890, said: "But it should not be forgotten that it is 
possible to travel by land from Washington to the south- 
ernmost capital of South America, and that the opening 
of railroad communication with these friendly states will 
give to them and to us facilities for intercourse and the 
exchanges of trade that are of special value. The work 
contemplated is vast, but entirely practicable." 

The moral influence and result of the congress centered 
in arbitration. In 1890, after long discussion, the dele- 
gates adopted a declaration which was a prophecy of the 
future. The declaration began as follows : 

" The delegates from North, Central and South Amer- 



PROGRESS OF THE WEST COAST 223 

ica, in conference assembled, believing that war is the 
most cruel, the most fruitless and the most dangerous 
expedient for the settlement of international difficulties ; 

" Do solemnly recommend to all the governments by 
which they are accredited that they conclude a uniform 
treaty of arbitration in the articles following : 

" Article i. The republics of North, Central and South 
America hereby adopt arbitration as a principle of Ameri- 
can international law for the settlement of the differences, 
disputes or controversies that may arise between two or 
more of them." 

The other articles recommend the establishment of a 
high court of nations to which all controversies shall be 
submitted for final decision. 

The International American Conference is the prophetic 
vision of the twentieth century. All that it saw is likely 
to become a part of the history of the next generation. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE CHILI-PERUVIAN WAR— THE AFFAIR OF THE "ES- 
MERALDA," AND THE HEROISM OF ARTURO PRATT 
—THE BATTLES OF TARAPACA AND MIRAFLORES. 

NORTHERN Chili is a long avenue of coast-land 
between a high chain of the Andes and the Pacific 
Ocean. It originally formed a part of the empire of the 
Incas. 

Fifty-four years elapsed between the battle of Ayacucho 
and the Chili-Peruvian War. The cause of the latter was a 
dispute as to the boundary of this narrow strip of arid land 
between the Andes and the sea. The land is a white, 
rainless desert, known as the desert of Tarapaca. South 
of it is the desert of Atacama. At the time of the inde- 
pendence of Peru nothing on earth could have been 
deemed of less value than these two deserts. It is said that 
there were Inca villages on Tarapaca, and that to lose one's 
way in finding them was death, for the winds obliterated 
every track in the white, blinding sands, and there was 
no tree or object of any kind to guide the traveler. In 
the course of time it was discovered that these deserts, so 
barren and seemingly valueless, abounded in wealth. 
There were rich silver- mines in Atacama — in fact, among 
the richest in the world. Tarapaca was found to abound 
in plant-food more valuable than the fertilizing products 
of the guano islands. It was a great chemical laboratory 

224 




MMt fcJ 






THE CHILI-PERUVIAN WAR 225 

of nitrate of soda. The impoverished lands of Europe 
needed the riches of this forbidding desert. Colonel 
North, of English fame, saw his great opportunity there. 

If this almost boundless wealth had not been brought 
to light, there probably would have been no Chili-Peru- 
vian war. The boundary would not have been a matter 
of moment. When the riches of the desert of Tarapaca 
became known, Chilian enterprise began to find a field 
there. Chilian laborers immigrated there, and planted 
industries there on soil claimed by Bolivia, which had 
been Peru. When the South American republics became 
independent of Spain, their boundaries followed those of 
the viceroyalties. On this principle, Peru, or Bolivian 
Peru, claimed the province of Tarapaca, which had been 
occupied by immigrating Chilians. The province extended 
from the southern limit of Peru to the northern limit of 
Chili. The Peruvian land was that of the province of Tara- 
paca. Hence Peru and Bolivia both claimed the deserts 
of Tarapaca and Atacama, the resources of which the en- 
terprising Chilians developed. The territory was Bolivian 
Atacama, and Peruvian Tarapaca, of Chilian occupation. 

In 1870 the rich silver-mines of Caracoles were dis- 
covered. The Bolivian government, in consideration of 
ten thousand dollars, granted a concession to a company 
to work the nitrate deposits and to open a road to the 
silver-mines. The company built a railroad and employed 
largely Chilian labor. Under this arrangement the deserts 
came under Chilian influence. Bolivia claimed the right 
to tax such enterprises, which Chili denied. 

A defensive treaty was formed between Peru and Bolivia 
to protect their hereditary boundaries, which Chili had 
sought to overthrow. Chili regarded this treaty as detri- 
mental to her interests, and a cause of war. She declared 
war upon Peru on April 5, 1879. 



2 26 SOUTH AMERICA 

Chili had been preparing for war on the land and the sea. 
She had a strong navy. The Chilian army was well drilled 
and equipped. Its artillery was especially effective. It 
was armed with Krupp and Gatling guns. The Peruvian 
navy consisted chiefly of four ships. 

The war began February 14, 1879, when the Chilians 
seized the Bolivian port of Antofagasta. They next occu- 
pied the station of the rich silver-mines of Caracoles. 
General Daza, President of Bolivia, declared war on Chili 
March 1, 1879. General Brado, President of Peru, took 
command of the Peruvian army. It was a war for the 
riches of the deserts. 

A Peruvian squadron, consisting of two ships, the Huas- 
car, commanded by Captain Grau, the Independencia, by 
Captain Moore, and some transports, sailed south. At 
the same time the Chilian admiral Williams made a recon- 
naissance to the north. A very heroic and dramatic 
event grew out of this situation, one that has been cele- 
brated in song. It is known as the " affair of the Es- 
meralda" The blockade of Iquique by the Chilians was 
sustained by two vessels, the Esmeralda and the Cova- 
donga. Commander Grau landed the President of Peru 
at Arica, and then proceeded to Iquique with the Huascar 
and Independencia. He sighted the Chilian blockading 
corvette Esmeralda, commanded by Captain Arthur Pratt 
(Arturo Pratt), and the gunboat Covadonga, commanded by 
Captain Condell. Grau at once attacked the Esmeralda. 
Captain Pratt saw the danger of the small corvette, and 
attempted to draw the war-ship Huascar into shoal water. 
At the critical moment, one of the boilers of the corvette 
became disabled, reducing the speed of the craft. Pratt 
put the crew to the guns of his little craft, and commenced 
action against the man-of-war. It required heroism to do 
this, but honor demanded it should be done. The little Es- 



THE CHILI-PERUVIAN WAR 22 7 

meralda poured a broadside into the Huascar, and for two 
hours a cannonade was kept up between the two vessels. 
Captain Grau now made use of the ram. He struck the^- 
meralda at her port side. The two vessels came in contact. 
As they did so, Captain Pratt, sword in hand, leaped on 
board the Huascar, calling to his officers and men, " Fol- 
low me!" The two vessels suddenly became disengaged, 
and only one man was able to follow the captain's com- 
mand. Pratt rushed along the deck of the Huascar as 
though he himself had captured the ship. Captain Grau 
must have admired his heroism. " Surrender, captain," 
he cried; "we wish to save the life of a hero!" Pratt 
began to wage war on the deck, and was killed sword in 
hand. Captain Grau again used the ram against the 
Esmeralda, when the men of that ship once more tried 
to obey the command of their fallen commander by leap- 
ing on board of the Huascar. The effort was in vain. 
The Esmeralda went down. Out of a crew of two hun- 
dred men only fifty were saved. 

In the course of the war the Peruvian navy was de- 
stroyed, and Admiral Grau died in defending the Huascar. 

The war on the land now centered at Tarapaca. The 
province of Tarapaca contains nitrate of soda sufficient to 
fertilize the gardens and fields of Europe for centuries to 
come. The refining-works of this immense industry are 
called oficinas. In these are employed thousands of 
men from nearly all lands. The ports of the deserts are 
full of vessels, and look like towns on the sea. 

The invading Chilian army numbered some ten thousand 
men, and was disembarked at Pisagua, which was bravely 
defended. A battle was fought at San Francisco, and the 
Peruvians retreated to the town of Tarapaca. The Chilian 
general planned to surprise and destroy the Peruvian army 
there. On the morning of the 27th of November the Peru- 



228 SOUTH AMERICA 

vian troops were resting under willow-trees in the gorge 
that opens from the stupendous peaks of the Andes, as high 
as Mont Blanc. The crest of the ravine, in whose heart a 
mountain stream was lost, seemed to wall the purple sky. 
A muleteer galloped up to the encampment and announced : 
" The enemy is on the height ! " A sub-lieutenant, a mere 
lad, came running into the camp in great excitement, say- 
ing: "The enemy is surrounding us!" An officer patted 
him on the back doubtfully, but looking up beheld columns 
of men marching high above him, as on the sky-line. The 
Peruvian commander ordered his troops to march up 
the sides of the ravine, which were precipitous. The march 
was like scaling a wall. The Chilians had gathered above 
them in force, and had planted on the heights their Krupp 
guns. The Peruvians reached the crest. Their force 
consisted in part of Inca Indians. They charged. One 
by one their leaders fell ; but the mountaineers captured 
the Krupp guns, and compelled the invaders to fall back. 
The best blood of Peru flowed like water. The Chilians 
were defeated, and retreated. In the battle twelve hun- 
dred and twenty men fell. 

But though the Peruvians gained the victory at Tara- 
paca, the advantage of the war was still with the powerful 
army of the Chilians. The Peruvians retreated to Arica. 
Nicolas de Pierola became the supreme chief of Peru. 
General Campero was President of Bolivia. Arica and 
Callao were blockaded by the Chilians, and the year 1880 
brought defeat to Peru and Bolivia. The Chilians had 
destroyed the Peruvian fleet, and had secured the nitrate 
province. The allied army was intrenched at Tacna, a 
town on the Pacific side of the Andes, in a fertile plain 
among the hills. It had a population of about twenty-four 
thousand. The allied army consisted of fourteen thou- 
sand. A bloody battle was fought at Tacna. The allies 



THE CHILI-PERUVIAN WAR 229 

were defeated. Arica fell before the conquering Chilians. 
The way was now open to the Chilians for the conquest 
of Peru. 

In October, 1880, the United States offered her services 
as mediator. The offer was declined. The conquerors 
now set their faces toward Lima. They landed south of 
Lima. A battle was fought at Chorrillos, a beautiful 
town near Lima, and a favorite pleasure-resort. In this 
battle more than two thousand Chilians were killed and 
wounded. The Peruvians defended their capital bravely. 
They made, as it were, a human wall against the invaders. 
Four thousand lay dead on the field. 

There is a beautiful resort near Lima, with which it is 
now connected by railway, called Miraflores. It is over- 
looked by the Andes, and it overlooks the sea. The land 
is full of orchards and flowers. Inca ruins are there. 
Villas of the nobility make the spot an earthly paradise. 
San Martin loved the place, as have statesmen, scien- 
tists, poets for centuries. An armistice was sought by 
the foreign ministers, who had taken refuge at Miraflores. 
The conference was ended by a cannonade. 

At Miraflores the Peruvians made their last stand. 
They were defeated after a great slaughter, losing six 
thousand in killed and three thousand in wounded. Lima 
fell and was sacked, and the Chilians were enabled to 
dictate their own boundaries of the desert of Tarapaca. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA— THE CUBAN HEROES— 
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE "MAINE" 

COLUMBUS discovered the island of Cuba on the 
morning of October 28, 1492. He declared the 
land to be the most beautiful that eyes had ever beheld. 
He named it Juana, from the son of the royal family. 
Poets later called it the " Isle of June." There was a tall 
ceiba- or cottonwood-tree near the place where he landed. 
Here he caused a wooden cross to be raised, and mass to 
be celebrated. A temple stands on the place now as a 
memorial of the event. Columbus believed that Cuba 
was a continent, a part of the enchanted land of far Cathay, 
whose wonders and glories had been described by Marco 
Polo. He sailed along the coast, in view of the majestic 
forests and mountains. He visited again those beautiful 
shores on his fourth voyage to America. On his death 
his body was buried in the cathedral near the place where 
he had first heard mass under the cottonwood-tree. His 
tomb may be seen in the simple but ancient walls. 

The island was conquered by Velasquez in 15 11. The 
conqueror divided the land and the natives among his fol- 
lowers. He founded many towns, among them Havana 
and Santiago de Cuba, the two mentioned about the 
year 1515. 

230 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 23 1 

The simple inhabitants began to disappear. Hernando 
Cortez became a governor of Cuba in 1537, under Velas- 
quez. He sent the suffering Indians to the copper-mines. 
The Indians were killed by the forced service. From 
this island he went forth to the conquest of Mexico. 

Negro slaves were introduced to take the places of the 
perishing Indians. Great plantations were cultivated, and 
the island was made to yield rich revenues to the Spanish 
crown. The trade of the sea was held in slavery, and as 
a consequence filibusters filled the coasts. 

On June 6, 1762, at the period when Charles III. of 
Spain was at war with Great Britain, there appeared off 
Havana an English squadron of thirty-two ships and 
frigates, with two hundred or more transport- vessels. The 
armament was the largest that had ever appeared in 
America. It was commanded by the Duke of Albemarle. 
The English landed a force of twelve thousand men. The 
Spanish garrison consisted of only twenty-seven hundred 
men, but received the aid of volunteers. The invading 
army occupied the heights near Morro Castle and the 
city, and opened fire upon both of the latter places, but 
was itself exposed to a fire from the Spanish on the 
Cabanas. The Spaniards blocked the entrance to the 
harbor by sinking two vessels in the channel. This was 
done to protect the Spanish vessels inside of the harbor. 
The precautionary defense proved a snare, for it shut the 
Spanish in while it shut the English out. This gave the 
English the advantage of concentrating their force on a 
land attack. The little garrison defended itself long and 
bravely. It finally surrendered, and was permitted to 
march out with the honors of war. The English held the 
fortifications until the peace of Paris in 1763. The " Pearl 
of the Antilles " was then restored to Spain, and for many 
years the date of the restitution was observed as a festival. 



232 SOUTH AMERICA 

From this period the island grew in wealth, and its 
viceregal court in splendor. Slavery increased. The 
plantations were among the richest harvest-fields of the 
world. 

The Creoles began to hear of the struggles for liberty 
in the provinces of the Andes, but liberty slumbered in 
Cuba. In 1823 a society, "Soles de Bolivar," made a 
movement for the freedom of the island. In 1829 the 
secret society of the Black Eagle made a similar attempt. 
It was unsuccessful. 

In 1844 the condition of the slaves had become intoler- 
able. They planned an insurrection for freedom. They 
struck and were stricken down. 

The expedition of Narcio Lopez, a Spaniard, who sailed 
from the Southern ports of the United States with a few 
hundred men, has already been briefly pictured. Lopez 
was the Miranda of Cuban freedom. His expedition was 
one of those failures that lead to success, that present 
ideals that do not fade. His heroic and tragic death was 
never forgotten. 

In 1868 there was a rising of patriots against the tyranny 
of Spain, led by men of intelligence, character and purest 
patriotism. These heroes threw to the breeze the banner 
of liberty. Puerto Principe, another patriotic city of a 
patriotic province, rose in arms. The rebels were poorly 
armed, but were inspired by the righteousness of their 
cause. Fifty thousand Spanish troops and seventy thou- 
sand volunteers confronted them. The mountains and 
marshes were their defenses. They continued the struggle 
until diplomacy did what force of arms could not do, 
namely, secured the liberation of the slaves. 

Again liberty slumbered, but not as before ; it dreamed 
now. The hope of independence was left. It lived and 
grew. Spain had promised the patriots justice, but had 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 233 

pursued her old policy. Spanish officers, bent only on 
making fortunes, filled the places of government. Three 
fourths of the office-holders were Spaniards. They gorged 
themselves with the products of others' toil. The system 
of taxation became unbearable. Human rights were 
ignored, and the blood of cruelty flowed as of old. 

In the winter of 1895 local outbreaks indicated the 
beginning of another war for liberty. Maximo Gomez, a 
patriot leader, and the two Maceos were again in the 
saddle. Marshal Campos attempted to subdue the patriots, 
but in vain. He was succeeded by Weyler, another Boves. 
Weyler began a campaign of the trocha. He built a line 
of fortifications across the island. He compelled the non- 
combatants, the reconcentrados, as they have come to be 
called, to be gathered together in fortified cities, and a 
line to be drawn around them, to pass beyond which was 
death. Here they were left to starve. Two hundred 
thousand people, and, according to some writers, a larger 
number, were, under this policy of concentration, starved 
to death. The land was covered with heaps of dead bodies. 

Excessive cruelty defeats itself. The call of the Cubans 
to humanity, for help, fell at first upon unbelieving ears, 
then upon startled ears. Finally it touched the heart. 
Spain seems to have seen the coming judgment. She with- 
drew Weyler from Cuba. General Blanco took up the cause 
of the Peninsula with a more humane heart. It was too 
late for military success. Of over two hundred thousand 
soldiers sent by Spain to Cuba more than one half died or 
returned disabled. 

Spain, now seeing the necessity for a change of policy 
toward the wronged island of Columbus, proposed to the 
Cubans autonomy, or local self-government. Such a 
government was formed, but without power. 

In the former struggle for liberty a republic had been 



234 SOUTH AMERICA 

formed, with Senor Cespedes as President. A new Cuban 
republic was proclaimed by the patriots of 1895. 

The rise and progress of the new republic may best be 
pictured by narratives of the lives of its leading heroes. 

Maximo Gomez, the general-in-chief of the insurgent 
forces, was born in 1823. He entered the last struggle 
for Cuban independence when past seventy years of age. 
" He is a grim, resolute, honest, conscientious, quizzical 
old veteran," wrote Consul-General Lee in 1898, "now 
seventy-five years old, who has thoroughly understood 
the tactics necessary to employ in order to waste the re- 
sources of his enemy." He served as a lieutenant in the 
Spanish cavalry in the revolution of Santo Domingo. The 
cause of the patriots of Santo Domingo seems to have set 
him to thinking. He became a republican, and joined the 
Cubans in their long struggle for liberty. He was one of 
the heroes of the ten years' war. 

His policy in the final Cuban war was to prevent Cuba 
from affording resources for the Spanish army. He for- 
bade the planters to grind cane, in order to deprive the 
Spaniards of their revenue. The cane-fields went up in 
smoke wherever he marched. He believed in sacrificing 
everything to the cause of liberty, and was fond of relating 
that the semi-civilized Indians threw their gold into the 
rivers on the approach of the Spaniards. 

He had some sterling qualities. He never allowed the 
wounded to be deserted. "The wounded are sacred," he 
said. To him liberty was more than life. Flint relates 
that Gomez once met a farmer in the fields, and asked him 
why he was at work. Gomez probably received the answer 
that the farmer worked to support his family. " To sup- 
port your family!" Gomez responded. " It were better if 
you fed them on the roots of the forest or left them to 
starve, as my men have left their wives and children and 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 235 

parents to starve for the sake of the fatherland. Do you 
know that you make the land richer for Spain ? " 

Such was the spirit of Gomez. His faith in the future 
was perfect; his views were unyielding. Flint reports 
one of Gomez's officers as saying : " The life of one entire 
generation is not too great a sacrifice to the prosperity 
of countless generations to come." Such was Gomez's 
opinion. War has seldom found so old a hero who was 
so young in heart, and so full of thought for the welfare 
of man and of the future that he would never see. 

Masso, President of the Cuban republic, was a man of 
uncompromising integrity and of sublime faith in the 
success of the patriot cause. In the September elections 
of 1897 Domingo Mendez Capote had been chosen 
President. The military chiefs questioned whether or 
not Capote had the strength of character to resist over- 
tures of peace from Spain in case of great disasters. In 
the ten years' war the patriots had lost by diplomacy and 
the acceptance of false promises what they had a right to 
demand as the results of their valor. They wished to 
avert a similar fate now. Hence they needed a man of 
iron. Such a man was Masso. A new election was 
ordered, and Masso, then about sixty-two years of age, 
was elected President. 

" Let no one enter our camps with any offer of terms 
of peace from Spain," was the voice of insurgent chiefs. 
" Independence or death is our unalterable purpose ! " 
Masso was a man of this mold. He was among the first 
of the Cuban commanders in the ten years' war, and he 
remained in the field to the last. When the agreement 
of peace was made he distrusted the Spanish pledges of 
reform. For this reason he was imprisoned in Morro 
Castle and deported to Spain. In 1880 he returned to 
his ruined estates, and became successful as a sugar- 



236 SOUTH AMERICA 

planter. In 1895, on his own estates, near Manzanillo, he 
proclaimed the independence of Cuba. He took command 
of the patriot volunteers there until the arrival of Maximo 
Gomez and Jose Marti, who organized the war of libera- 
tion. Though firm in his conviction of right, Masso was 
just and liberal. In a proclamation issued February 24, 
1895, entitled "To the Spaniards," he said: "While you 
remain friendly to us we will consider you and treat you 
as Cubans, and shall respect your lives, your families and 
property. What we want is independence for all, a coun- 
try and liberty!" 

It was Marti who organized the new revolution, which 
may be said to have begun on February 24, 1895. Marti 
was born of Spanish parents. Liberty was his native air. 
Early in life he became the friend of political prisoners. 
He knew the spirit of the old monarchy well, its politicians 
and bureaucrats who aimed only at robbery. He was 
exiled from Cuba to Spain. He escaped from Spain to 
the United States in 1879, about the time that General 
Calixto Garcia, a Cuban patriot, arrived in New York. 
The two planned an expedition to Cuba in aid of the cause 
of independence. Their purpose was delayed, but each 
became a leader in the movement of 1895. 

Near the end of 1 896, at the head of a charge al machete, 
there fell a mulatto general, Antonio Maceo. On his body 
were twenty-three wounds, received in many engagements. 
He had been one of the heroes of the ten years' war. 
This man belonged to a family of heroes of the patriotic 
province Santiago de Cuba, a province of the Southern 
seas. 

The family tradition of the Maceos of Sanitago is a 
very noble one. The elder Maceo had ten sons. He saw 
the oppression of the Creoles and his own race. He dedi- 
cated these ten sons to the cause of liberty. Five of these 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 237 

sons fell in the ten years' war. Of these ten sons two 
became famous, and did deeds that merit a place among 
heroes. They broke through the trocha, and made an 
open way from Santiago to Pinar del Rio. They were 
Jose Maceo and Antonio Maceo, both of whom came to 
tragic ends under the most heroic and thrilling circum- 
stances. The death of Antonio Maceo, the greatest of 
this family of born patriots, is worthy of commemoration 
in art and song. In the beginning of the winter of 1896 
he resolved to lead his cavalry into the province of Havana, 
to threaten the port city, and to give the Spaniards a sur- 
prise at their own doors. 

He prepared for this daring and hazardous exploit with 
consummate generalship. He organized the patriot army 
of the mountains of Pinar del Rio, and put it under 
General Rius Rivera, with whom he had fought in the ten 
years' war. He made strong the prefectures of the in- 
terior by provisions which would last for months. Arms 
and ammunition had been landed, and the Cuban army 
was in a condition for aggressive work. On December 
4, 1896, General Antonio Maceo crossed the trocha, and 
entered the province of Havana with about fifty raiders, 
among them his chief of staff and other most ardent and 
brave officers. Weyler was searching for him in the 
mountains of Pinar del Rio. Antonio's purpose was to 
destroy the suburbs of Havana, and then to join General 
Maximo Gomez, who was marching from the west, and 
to arrange with him a plan for the winter campaign. 
It was a dashing raid on December 5, 1896. The raiders 
crossed the trocha, and a few days later they were 
joined by a force of some three or four hundred men. 
They were opposed by a Spanish force under Major 
Cirujeda, an officer notorious for his cruelty. Maceo ar- 
ranged his force to strike the enemy, and said : ■ " This 



238 SOUTH AMERICA 

goes well. Al machete ! " He obeyed his own order, and 
led the way on his fiery war-horse. The patriots were 
met by a discharge of Spanish rifles. A bullet pierced 
the head of Maceo ; another entered his body. He reeled 
back and fell dead among his faithful officers, who were 
falling around him. The greatest of the heroes of the 
Maceo family was no more. On seeing their leader fall, 
the Cubans retreated, and the body of the dead Maceo 
fell into the hands of the Spaniards. The latter robbed 
it, and, tying it to the tail of a horse, dragged it about. 
They finally left it on the field and returned to their camp. 
The command of the Cubans now devolved in part upon 
General Miro. This officer recovered the corpse of Maceo, 
and called his officers around him. " We must bury our 
leader in a secret place, and you must take an oath never 
to reveal the spot until the cause of Cuban liberty is won." 
This oath was taken, and the body of Antonio Maceo 
was hidden, for disinterment in future days. The body 
was covered with blood. General Miro dipped his hand- 
kerchief in the blood that had come from the open veins, 
and said: "Behold, I shall keep this for an ensign, to 
rally the people if their faith shall falter. He embodied 
patriotism and loyalty, and this blood will inspire the 
patriot to fight until the cause for which he fought is 
gained." 

The death of Jose Maceo, the brother in blood and heart 
of Antonio Maceo, was almost as dramatic. On July 4, 
1897, he and his staff and officers had celebrated the in- 
dependence of the United States. On the next morning, 
setting out on a white horse, he led a cavalry charge. He 
was struck in the breast by a bullet, and was taken from 
his horse. He was borne in silence to the town of Tiarrba, 
where he died. His death proved an inspiration to the 
Cuban soldiers. They won a victory on that day over the 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 239 

Spaniards, who lost eighty in killed and two hundred and 
sixty in wounded. 

These heroes of the Cuban cavalry broke the trocha, 
which had been deemed invincible, and they held firmly the 
cause of Cuban independence in its dark and wavering 
days. They were like bridges over which an army passed 
to liberty. 

What was the personal character of Antonio Maceo, who 
was an inspiration, a firebrand, a torch in these stern 
times? He was a Toussaint, and not a Dessalines. His 
heart was as full of mercy as those of his opponents were 
full of cruelty. His appeal to the people of the United 
States is a picture of his nobleness of soul. A part of it 
reads : " I would not like them to have to shed American 
blood for our liberty ; we are capable alone — provided that 
within the laws of nations we can obtain all the elements 
which we need — to expel from Cuba the ruined power of 
Spain in America. What only troubles me are the victims 
which the Spaniards make of poor and innocent families, 
whom they assassinate daily. I wish that in this sense the 
Americans would interpose their good offices so that the 
Spanish wild beasts will cease the butchery of defenseless 
people. For the sake of humanity this intervention should 
be favored by all civilized countries and nations interested 
in the moral and material progress of mankind." 

In the great battle of Bayamo (1895), in which General 
Campos was defeated with great loss, Antonio Maceo was 
the guiding spirit of the field. Campos hoped to shatter 
the army of Maceo and kill the revolution. In the en- 
gagement Campos was wounded, and his principal general, 
Santocildes, killed. At a shelter near Bayamo there were 
found thirteen Spanish officers dead. Campos himself 
escaped by the stratagem of being carried away with the 
wounded on a stretcher. He lost three hundred men. The 



240 SOUTH AMERICA 

character of Maceo was shown in the hour of his victory- 
over the representative of Spain. He sent to the general 
the following letter : 

" To His Excellency the General Martinez Campos. 

" Dear Sir : Anxious of giving careful and efficient 
attendance to the wounded Spanish soldiers that your 
troops left behind on the battle-field, I have ordered that 
they be lodged in the houses of the Cuban families that 
live nearest the battle-ground, until you send for them. 
With my assurance that the forces you may send to escort 
them back will not meet any hostile demonstration from 
my soldiers, I have the honor to be, sir, 

" Yours respectfully, 
(Signed) " ANTONIO MACEO." 

As noble was his expostulation with General Weyler 
when the latter had begun to develop his merciless policy : 

"What! must even the peaceful inhabitants (I say 
nothing of the wounded and prisoners of war) be sacrificed 
to the rage that gave the Duke of Alva his name and 
fame? Is it thus that Spain, through you, returns the 
clemency and kindness which we, the redeemers of this 
suffering people, have exercised in like circumstances? 
What a reproach for yourself and for Spain ! The license 
to burn the huts, assassinations like those at Nueva Paz 
and the villa El Gato, committed by Spanish columns, in 
particular those of Colonels Molina and Vicuna, proclaim 
you guilty before all humankind ; your name will be for- 
ever infamous, here and far from here, and remembered 
with disgust and horror! 

" Out of humanity, yielding to the honorable and gen- 
erous impulses which are identified with both the spirit and 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 241 

the tendency of the revolution, I shall never use reprisals 
that would be unworthy of the reputation and the power of 
the liberating army of Cuba. But I, nevertheless, foresee 
that such abominable conduct on your part and on that of 
your men will arouse at no distant time private vengeances 
to which they will fall victims, without my being able to 
prevent it, even though I should punish hundreds of inno- 
cent persons. 

" For this last reason, since war should only touch com- 
batants, and it is inhuman to make others suffer from its 
consequences, I invite you to retrace your steps, if you 
admit your guilt, or to repress these crimes with a heavy 
hand, if they were committed without your consent. At 
all events, take care that no drop of blood be shed outside 
of the battle-field. Be merciful to the many unfortunate 
peaceful citizens. In so doing you will imitate in honora- 
ble emulation our conduct and our proceedings. 

" Yours, 

"A. Maceo." 

As noble is the following anecdote given by an Ameri- 
can writer : " Oil one occasion twenty-six Spanish soldiers 
were captured in a small engagement near Sagua. They 
were placed in line in front of the headquarters of General 
Maceo, and when the chief stepped up in front of them 
they expected instant death. They had been told various 
stories of cruelty by their officers, and the limbs of every 
one, with the exception of a veteran surgeon, trembled 
with fear. ' Well, there is one of two things for you fel- 
lows to do,' said General Maceo ; ' you can either stay here 
or go back to your own people. Now, which do you want 
to do ? ' They were struck dumb with astonishment, and 
several tried to kiss the hand of their preserver. They 
held a consultation among themselves. The surgeon and 



242 SOUTH AMERICA 

fifteen of the soldiers decided they would return to their 
own forces. The remaining eleven decided to join the 
forces of the rebels. General Maceo paroled the former, 
after writing a letter explaining to the Spanish commander 
the bravery of his men, and how they had been compelled 
to surrender. He then sent them back rejoicing, accom- 
panied by an armed escort, carrying a flag of truce." 

Such was the man who set at naught the trocha, and 
swept with his raiders from Santiago to the mountains of 
Pinar del Rio. 

The following is a list of the leaders, colored and white, 
who faced the problem the solution of which was, at last, 
to make Cuba free : 

President and political leader, Jose Marti, white; gen- 
eral-in-chief, Maximo Gomez, white. 

First division, comprising the departments of Cuba, 
Guantanamo and Baracoa : major-general, Antonio Maceo, 
colored ; brigadier-general, Jose Maceo, colored. General 
officers : Pedro Perez, white ; Quintin Bandera, colored ; 
Alfonso Goulet, colored ; Felix Ruen, colored. 

Second division, comprising the departments of Man- 
zanillo, Bayamo and Cauto : major-general, Bartolome 
Masso, white ; brigadier- general, Jose Rabi, colored. Gen- 
eral officers : Amador Guerra, white; Jesus Rabi, colored; 
Juan Vega, colored ; Saturnino Lora, white. 

Third division, comprising the departments of Holguin, 
Magari, Tunas and Guaimero : major-general (vacant) ; 
brigadier-general, Francisco Borrero, white. General offi- 
cers : Jose Miro, white ; Luis de Feria, white ; Angel 
Guerra, white ; N. Marrero, white. 

The Hon. Richard Olney, at that time Secretary of State 
of the United States, wrote to President Cleveland on 
December 7, 1896, of this pivotal period of the Cuban 
contest : " Confined in the outset, as in the ten years' in- 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 243 

surrection which began at Yara in October, 1868, to the 
eastern portion of the island, where the topography and 
absence of settled centers especially favored the desultory 
warfare apparently normal to this class of contests, the 
present insurrection very early took proportions beyond 
those of its predecessor, and therewith assumed an aggres- 
sive phase, invading the populous central and western dis- 
tricts. Passing the defensive lines, or trochas, traversing 
the island from north to south, formidable bodies of the 
revolutionary forces early in the year established themselves 
in the rich sugar-planting districts of Santa Clara, Cien- 
fuegos and Matanzas, made hostile forays almost in sight 
of Havana itself, and advancing westward, effected a lodg- 
ment in the fertile tobacco-fields of Pinar del Rio, which has 
so far resisted all efforts of the Spanish forces to overcome. 

" Although statistics of their military strength are 
attainable with difficulty, and are not always trustworthy 
when obtained, enough is certainly known to show that the 
revolutionists in the field greatly exceed in numbers any 
organization heretofore attempted ; that with large acces- 
sions from the central and western districts of the island a 
better military discipline is added to increased strength ; 
that instead of mainly drawing, as heretofore, upon the com- 
paratively primitive population of eastern Cuba, the insur- 
gent armies fairly represent the intelligent aspirations of a 
large proportion of the people of the whole island ; and 
that they propose to wage this contest, on these better 
grounds of advantage, to the end, and to make the present 
struggle a supreme test of the capacity of the Cuban people 
to win for themselves and their children the heritage of 
self-government. 

" A notable feature of the actual situation is the tactical 
skill displayed by its leaders. When the disparity of num- 
bers and comparatively indefensible character of the central 



244 SOUTH AMERICA 

and western Vego country are considered, the passage of 
a considerable force into Pinar del Rio, followed by its 
successful maintenance there for many months, must be 
regarded as a military success of a pronounced character. 

" So, too, the Spanish force in the field, in garrison on 
the island, or on its way thither from the mother-country, 
is largely beyond any military display yet called for by a 
Cuban rising, thus affording an independent measure of 
the strength of the insurrection. 

" From every accessible indication it is clear that the 
present rebellion is on a far more formidable scale as to 
numbers, intelligence and representative features than any 
of the preceding revolts of this century ; that the corre- 
sponding effort of Spain for its repression has been enor- 
mously augmented ; and that, despite the constant influx 
of fresh armies and material of war from the metropolis, 
the rebellion, after nearly two years of successful resis- 
tance, appears to-day to be in a condition to prolong in- 
definitely the contest on its present lines." 

On the evening of February 15,1 898, a terrible event oc- 
curred in the harbor of Havana. The shadows of nightfall 
had gathered upon the sea. The lights of the whole city 
glimmered in the mild air. Suddenly a red column of fire 
rose into the darkness and sank again. A rain of missiles 
fell upon the water. The boatmen near the column of fire 
had heard a dull, sullen roar in the sea, as though the bed of 
the water had been earthquake- riven. The column of fire 
had revealed the white ship from which it had seemed to 
proceed. It was a United States war-vessel, the Maine. 
Immediately the sea was filled with dying men. Two hun- 
dred and sixty-six officers and sailors perished. The 
ship had gone there, to a friendly port, for the protection of 
American citizens. She had doubtless been blown up 
by a secret mine exploded by conspiracy or accident. 



HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN CUBA 245 

The Spanish officials in the harbor who saw the column of 
flame rise into the darkness could hardly have felt the 
prophetic import of the event. The destruction of the 
proud battle-ship was to reveal to the American mind cen- 
turies of cruelty, injustice and wrong. It was to lead 
America, as with one voice, to demand that in the name 
of humanity and liberty the oppressions of Spain on the 
continent should forever cease. The judgment- day of 
three centuries was in it. Whose hand exploded the mine 
none know or ever will know, but the world saw in the 
explosion a resemblance to the deeds of the past. That 
column of flame, like a candle of destiny, made the past 
clear again, and aroused the human will to decide that in 
the future such things should not be. From that dark 
death of the martyrs of the Maine began an inquiry that 
gained the cause of all the Cuban patriots who fought for 
liberty. The Maine sank helplessly in the still waters ; but 
the sunrise of freedom came in the morning. The hour 
of the fate of the Maine was that of the end of the Spanish 
empire in the western world. 



CHAPTER XXV 

PORTO RICO 

PORTO RICO," says an old writer, " is one of the 
coolest and healthiest parts of the West Indies." It 
is also one of the most populous islands of the Spanish 
Main. The larger part of the inhabitants are Creoles. 
This new possession of the United States is likely to be- 
come one of the sea-gardens for the people of North 
America. 

It is an island of beauty. One of the most interesting 
and suggestive of American legends is associated with the 
ruined palace of Ponce de Leon, which is still to be seen 
at San Juan. This poet-mariner and companion of Colum- 
bus had heard of Bimini, a fabled island in the new Span- 
ish Main, which contained a fountain of magical influence, 
the waters of which would cause one to live in perpetual 
youth. He was growing old, and went in search of this 
fountain in the sunny waters. He found Florida. He was 
made governor of Porto Rico, and built a palace there. 

The island is rectangular in shape. It is about a hun- 
dred miles long and fifty wide, traversed by a range of 
mountains, one peak of which rises 3670 feet above the 
sea. It is nature's own land of sugar, coffee, tobacco and 
tropical fruits. The cattle and sheep raised there are said 
to be superior. The island is comparatively free from 
noxious vermin. 

246 



PORTO RICO 247 

The people of Porto Rico caught the spirit of Simon 
Bolivar, and, in 1820, made an attempt to throw off the 
Spanish yoke, and to follow the example of the South 
American patriots. The republican movement was crushed 
in 1823. Spanish supremacy was reestablished more rig- 
idly than before. Slavery was abolished in 1873, and also 
the mita. 

In 1870 Porto Rico was made a province of Spain, and 
was allowed a representative government. 

The climate has two seasons, the wet and the dry. The 
dry months are healthful, and are the time when the for- 
eign visitor may live there without danger from mala- 
rious fevers. They begin with November and end in 
April. The mean heat in summer is about 8o° ; in winter 
about 70 . 

The hills of palms abound with coffee-plantations, the 
valleys with sugar-farms and fruit-orchards, and the pas- 
tures are famous for succulent grasses. 

The island has 470 miles of telegraph lines and 137 
miles of railway. San Juan is the capital. Its harbor has 
an entrance 2000 feet wide, and is overlooked by a Morro 
or Moorish castle. The city is built on a coral reef. It 
is connected with the mainland by a picturesque bridge. 

The population of the island in 1887 was 798,565. Of 
these 474,923 were white. The population of San Juan is 
26,000; that of Ponce is about 15,000. 

The Porto Ricans hailed with rejoicing the coming of 
the American flag of liberation. The island became a 
part of the republic of the United States on August 12, 
1898, at the time of signing the famous protocol. By so 
doing the hopes of the patriots of 1820, with which they 
had been inspired by the victorious march of Bolivar, 
have been happily realized. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE SOUTH AMERICAN ORATORS— THE ORATIONS OF 
BOLIVAR— THE FAREWELL OF SAN MARTIN 

BOLIVAR was the orator as well as the Liberator of 
South America. We give here some specimens of his 
grand oratory. 

A general assembly of the Venezuelans, held at Mar- 
garita, had appointed Bolivar " Supreme Chief," with 
dictatorial powers. In the war which followed he was 
victorious. He conquered the Spaniards and secured the 
independence of Venezuela. Having accomplished that, he 
convened a congress, which assembled at Angostura, Janu- 
ary, 1819. To that, composed of the direct representa- 
tives of the people, he resigned his powers as Dictator. 
In doing so he said : 

" Gentlemen : I account myself one of the beings 
most favored by divine Providence in having the honor of 
reuniting the representatives of Venezuela in this august 
congress, the only source of legitimate authority, the de- 
posit of the sovereign will, and the arbiter of the nation's 
fate. 

" In delivering back to the representatives of the people 
the supreme power intrusted to me, I satisfy the desires of 
my own heart, and calm the fears of my fellow-citizens 
and of future generations, who hope everything from your 

248 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN ORATORS 249 

wisdom, rectitude and prudence. In fulfilling this de- 
lightful duty, I free myself from the boundless authority 
which oppresses me, and also from the unlimited respon- 
sibility which weighs on my feeble hands. 

" An imperative necessity, united to a strongly expressed 
desire on the part of the people, could alone have induced 
me to assume the dreadful and dangerous charge of Dicta- 
tor, Supreme Chief of the Republic. Now, however, I desire 
to return the authority which, with so great risk, difficulty 
and toil, I have maintained amid as horrible calamities as 
ever afflicted a social body. 

" In the epoch during which I presided over the repub- 
lic, it was not merely a political storm that raged, in a 
sanguinary war, in a time of popular anarchy, but the 
tempest of the desert, a whirlwind of every disorganized 
element, the bursting of an infernal torrent, that over- 
whelmed the land of Venezuela. A man,— and such a 
man as I am ! — what bounds, what resistance could he 
oppose to such furious devastation? Amid that sea of 
woes and afflictions I was nothing more than the miserable 
sport of the revolutionary hurricane, driven to and fro like 
the wild bird of the ocean. I could do neither good nor 
evil ; an irresistible power above all human control directed 
the march of our fortunes ; and for me to pretend to have 
been the prime mover of the events which have taken place 
would be unjust, and would be attaching to myself an 
importance I do not merit. Do you desire to know the 
sources from which those occurrences took their rise, and 
the origin of our present situation ? Consult the annals of 
Spain, of America and of Venezuela; examine the laws of 
the Indies, the conduct of your ancient governors, the 
influence of religion and of foreign dominion ; observe the 
first acts of the republican government, the ferocity of our 
enemies, and the national character. I again repeat that I 



250 SOUTH AMERICA 

cannot consider myself more than the mere instrument of 
the great causes which have acted on our country. My 
life, my conduct and all my actions, public and private, are, 
however, before the people, and, representatives, it is your 
duty to judge them. I submit to your impartial decision 
the manner in which I have executed my command, and 
nothing will I add to excuse. I have already said enough 
as an apology. Should I merit your approbation, I shall 
have acquired the sublime title of a good citizen, preferred 
by me to that of Liberator, bestowed on me by Venezuela ; 
to that of Pacificator, given me by Cundinamarca; and to 
all others the universe could confer. 

" Legislators ! I deposit in your hands the supreme 
command of Venezuela, and it is now your high duty to 
consecrate yourselves to the felicity of the republic. In 
your hands rests the balance of our destiny and the means 
of our glory. You will confirm the decrees which estab- 
lish our liberty. 

" The supreme chief of the republic is, at this moment, 
nothing more than a simple citizen, and such he wishes to 
remain until his latest hour. He will, however, serve with 
the armies of Venezuela as long as an army treads her 
soil." 

Bolivar surveyed the republics of the past, and pictured 
their rise and fall with masterly eloquence. He continued : 

" Legislators ! This is the proper time for repeating 
what the eloquent Volney says, in his dedication to the 
' Ruins of Palmyra ' : ' To the growing people of the 
Spanish Indies, to the generous chiefs who conduct them to 
liberty ! May the errors and misfortunes of the Old World 
teach wisdom and happiness to the New ! ' May they never 
lose themselves, but profit by the lessons of experience 
given in the schools of Greece, of Rome, of France, of 
England and of America, and be instructed by them in the 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN ORATORS 25 I 

difficult science of establishing and preserving nations with 
proper, just, legitimate, and, above all, useful laws, never 
forgetting that the excellency of a government does not 
consist in theory, form or mechanism, but in being fitted 
to the nature and character of the people for which it was 
instituted." 

The speech ended with this grand peroration : 

" Flying from present and approaching times, my 
imagination plunges into future ages, in which I observe, 
with admiration and amazement, the prosperity, the 
splendor and the animation which this vast region will 
have acquired. My ideas are wafted on, and I see my 
beloved nation in the center of the universe, expanding 
herself on her extensive coasts between those oceans which 
nature had separated, and which our country will have 
united with large and capacious canals. I see her the 
bond, the center and the emporium of the human race. I 
see her transmitting to earth's remotest bounds those trea- 
sures contained in her mountains of gold and silver. I see 
her distributing, by her salutiferous plants, health and life 
to the afflicted of the Old World. I see her imparting to 
the sages of other regions her inestimable secrets, ignorant 
until then how much her height of knowledge transcends 
her excessive wealth. Yes ! I see her seated on the throne 
of freedom, wielding the scepter of justice, and crowned 
with glory, showing the Old World the majesty of the New. 

" Legislators ! Condescend to receive with indulgence 
the declaration of my political creed, the highest wishes of 
my heart, and the earnest petition which, in the name of 
the people, I have dared to address to you. 

" Vouchsafe to grant to Venezuela a government purely 
popular, purely just and purely moral, which will enchain 
oppression, anarchy and crime ; a government which will 
cause innocency, philanthropy and peace to reign ; a gov- 



252 SOUTH AMERICA 

ernment which, under the dominion of inexorable laws, 
will cause equality and liberty to triumph. 

" Gentlemen ! Commence your duties ; I have finished 
mine. 

" The Congress of the republic of Venezuela is installed. 
In it from this moment is centered the national sover- 
eignty. We all owe to it obedience and fidelity. My 
sword, and those of my illustrious fellows in arms, will 
maintain its august authority. God save the Congress!" 

The speech electrified the Congress. The Liberator 
followed it by presenting to the Congress the new consti- 
tution. " Viva el Congreso de Venezuela! " rang through 
the halls, which shout was echoed by the artillery. A 
President pro tern, was elected, Francisco A. Zea. Boli- 
var then rose and took the oath of allegiance to the written 
law of the people. He placed the President pro tem. in 
the seat that he as Dictator had just vacated, and said : 

" Generals, chiefs and officers, my companions in arms, 
we are no more than simple citizens till the Sovereign Con- 
gress pleases to employ us in the class and rank which 
it may think proper. Relying on your submission, I am 
going to give, in my name and yours, the most evident 
proofs of our obedience, by surrendering to it the command 
with which I was charged." 

On saying this he approached the President of the Con- 
gress, and presenting his general's baton, he continued : 
" I return to the republic the baton of general which she 
conferred on me. To serve her, in whatever rank or class 
to which the Congress destines me, is for me honorable ; 
in it I will give the example of subordination and kind 
obedience, which should distinguish every soldier of the 
republic ! " 

The next day the Liberator was elected President of the 
republic. 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN ORATORS 253 

One of the greatest of the orations of Bolivar was deliv- 
ered in the south after the organization of the republic of 
Bolivia. It was addressed to the Congress of Bolivia. 

" Legislators! In offering the project of a constitution 
for Bolivia, I feel overwhelmed with confusion and timid- 
ity, being convinced of my incapacity to make laws. 
When I consider that the wisdom of whole centuries is 
insufficient to compose a fundamental law which shall be 
perfect, and that the most enlightened legislator is perhaps 
the immediate cause of human unhappiness, and, if I may 
so express myself, the dupe of his divine ministry, what 
may not be said of a soldier born among slaves and buried 
in the deserts of his country, having seen nothing but cap- 
tives in chains, and companions in arms to break them ? . . . 

" I have summoned all my powers of mind for the pur- 
pose of submitting to you my opinions respecting the best 
method of managing free men according to the principles 
adopted by civilized nations, although the lessons of experi- 
ence exhibit only long periods of disaster checkered by 
some glimpses of good fortune. What guides can we fol- 
low in the shade of such dark examples? 

"Legislators! Your duty calls on you to resist the 
shock of two monstrous enemies who mutually combat 
each other, and who will both attack you at one and the 
same time. . . . Tyranny and anarchy form an immense 
ocean of oppression, rolling round a small isle of liberty, 
perpetually beaten by the violence of the waves and by the 
hurricanes which incessantly threaten its submersion. Such 
is the sea on which you are about to launch, in a frail bark, 
with a pilot so inexperienced. . . . 

" Legislators ! From this day forward liberty will be 
indestructible in America. You see that the savage 
nature of this continent is of itself sufficient to repel the 
monarchical form of government. Deserts are favorable to 



254 SOUTH AMERICA 

independence. Here we have no grandees, either aristo- 
cratical or ecclesiastical. Our riches are but inconsidera- 
ble, and now they are reduced in a still greater degree. 
Though the church enjoys some influence, she is far from 
aspiring to dominion, being satisfied with her own preser- 
vation. Without such supports tyrants never remain per- 
manent, and if some ambitious men should engage in 
raising empires for themselves, the fate of Dessalines, 
Christophe and Iturbide will warn them of what they 
have to expect. No power finds greater difficulty to 
maintain itself than that of a new Prince Bonaparte, who, 
having vanquished so many armies, could not succeed in 
overcoming this rule, which is stronger than empires. And 
if the great Napoleon was unable to maintain himself 
against the league of republicans and aristocrats, who may 
hope to found monarchies in America, in a soil warmed and 
illuminated by the bright flames of liberty, in a soil which 
consumes the materials used for erecting these legal plat- 
forms? No, legislators! Fear not any pretenders or 
aspirants to crowns. To them the diadem would be what 
the hair-suspended falchion was over the head of Dionysius. 
Those upstart princes, who are so blind as to raise thrones 
on the ruins of liberty, are erecting their own sepulchral 
monuments, which will announce to future generations 
that they preferred their infatuated ambition to liberty and 
glory. . . . 

" Legislators ! Slavery is the infringement of all laws. 
A law having a tendency to preserve slavery would be the 
grossest sacrilege. What right can be alleged in favor of 
its continuance? In whatever view this crime is consid- 
ered, I am persuaded that there is not a single Bolivian in 
existence so depraved as to pretend that such a signal vio- 
lation of the dignity of man can be legalized. Man to be 
possessed by his fellow-man ; man to be made a property 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN ORATORS 255 

of! The image of the Deity to be put under the yoke! 
Let these usurpers of man show us their title-deeds. No 
one can break asunder the sacred dogma of equality ; and 
is slavery to exist where equality reigns ? Such contradic- 
tions would rather impugn our reason than our justice. 
We should then be deemed insane rather than usurpers. 

" Legislators ! I shall make mention of an article which 
in my conscience I ought to have omitted. No religious 
creed or profession should be prescribed in a political con- 
stitution, for, according to the best doctrines concerning 
fundamental laws, these are the guaranties of civil and 
political rights ; and as religion touches none of those 
rights, she is in her nature not to be defined in the social 
order, and belongs to an intellectual morality. Religion 
governs man at home, in the cabinet, and in his own 
bosom, within himself; she alone has a right to examine 
his most secret conscience. The laws, on the contrary, 
consider and view the exterior of things ; they govern only 
out of doors, and not within the houses of citizens. Apply- 
ing these considerations, how can the state rule the con- 
sciences of its subjects, watch over the fulfilment of religion, 
and reward or punish, when the tribunals of all those mat- 
ters are in heaven, and when God is the Judge ? As all this 
belongs to divine jurisdiction, it strikes me at first sight 
as sacrilegious and profane to mix up our ordinances with 
the commandments of the Lord. It therefore belongs not 
to the legislator to prescribe religion; for the legislator 
must impose penalties on the infringements of the laws, to 
avoid their becoming merely expressions of counsel and 
advice. When there are neither temporal penalties, nor 
judges to inflict them, the law ceases to be law. 

"Legislators! What generous and sublime thoughts 
must fill your souls when you see the new Bolivian nation 
already proclaimed ! The accession of a new state to the 



256 SOUTH AMERICA 

society of those already existing forms a just subject of 
exultation for mankind, as it augments the great family of 
nations. What then must be the exultation of its founders, 
and my own, seeing myself placed on a level with the most 
celebrated sages of antiquity, with the founder of the Eter- 
nal City ! This glory by right appertains to the institutors 
of nations, who, being their first benefactors, must have 
received immortal rewards ; but mine, besides its immor- 
tality, possesses the merit of being gratuitous, not having 
been deserved. Where is the city, where is the republic 
which I have founded ? Your munificence in dedicating a 
nation to me has surpassed all my services, and is infinitely 
superior to all the good which men can do to you. 

" My despair increases when I contemplate the immen- 
sity of your reward ; for even had I concentrated the 
talents, virtues, and the very genius of the greatest of 
heroes, I should be nevertheless unworthy of the name 
which you have chosen to give yourselves, my own name ! 
Shall I talk of gratitude when that sentiment cannot other- 
wise than feebly express what I experience from your good- 
ness, which, like the divine goodness, passes all limits? 
Yes ; God alone had the power of naming this country 
Bolivia. . . . What means the word ' Bolivia ' ? A bound- 
less love of liberty, at the receiving of which your enthu- 
siasm saw nothing equal to its value. Your ecstasy, finding 
no demonstration adequate to the vehemence of your feel- 
ings, extinguished your own name, and gave mine to 
yourselves and all your posterity. This has no parallel 
in the history of the world. It is unexampled in the 
records of sublime magnanimity. So great an action will 
show to after times, which exist in the mind of the Eter- 
nal, that you aspired to the possession of your rights, 
which consist in the power of exercising your political vir- 
tues, in the acquisition of luminous talents, and in the 



THE SOUTH AMERICAN ORATORS 257 

enjoyment of being men. This noble deed, I repeat it, 
will prove that you are entitled to obtain the grand bless- 
ing of Heaven, the sovereignty of the people, the only 
legitimate authority of nations." 

General Martin's proclamation on resigning his office 
recalls Lincoln's address at Gettysburg. Its very simpli- 
city is eloquent; events are in every sentence. Nothing 
could be more dramatic than the words : " I hold in my 
possession the standard which Pizarro brought to enslave 
the empire of the Incas." The proclamation is as follows : 

" I have witnessed the declaration of independence of 
the states of Chili and Peru. I hold in my possession the 
standard which Pizarro brought to enslave the empire of 
the Incas. I have ceased to be a public man. Thus I am 
more than rewarded for ten years spent in revolution and 
warfare. My promises to the countries in which I warred 
are fulfilled — to make them independent and leave to their 
will the elections of the governments. 

" The presence of a fortunate soldier, however disinter- 
ested he may be, is dangerous to newly constituted states. 
I am also disgusted with hearing that I wish to make 
myself a sovereign. Nevertheless, I shall always be ready 
to make the last sacrifice for the liberty of the country, but 
in the class of the private individual, and no other. 

"With respect to my public conduct, my compatriots 
(as is generally the case) will be divided in their opinions. 
Their children will pronounce the true verdict. 

"Peruvians! I leave your national representation 
established. If you repose implicit confidence in it, you 
will triumph. If not, anarchy will swallow you up. 

" May success preside over your destinies, and may they 
be crowned with felicity and peace!" 



APPENDIX 



ARBITRATION IN SOUTH AMERICA 

1. The United States and New Granada in 1857. 

2. The United States and Chili in 1858. Claim of compensation for silver 
bars and coin taken by a Chilian admiral from an American citizen. Re- 
ferred to the King of the Belgians, whose award sustained the American 
claims. 

3. The United States and Paraguay in 1859. Referred to a commission, 
whose award was duly given. 

4. The United States and New Granada. Pecuniary claims. Referred 
to a commission. 

5. Great Britain and Brazil in 1863. Imprisonment of British naval officers. 
Referred to the King of the Belgians, Leopold I., who decided that the action 
of Brazil was justified by circumstances. 

6. The United States and Peru in 1863. Alleged illegal capture of ships. 
Referred in one instance to the King of the Belgians, and in another to a 
commission. 

7. Great Britain and Peru in 1864. The Senate of Hamburg arbitrated 
on claim for compensation on account of the alleged false imprisonment 
and banishment from Peru of a British subject, and decided that the claim 
was based upon a partial and exaggerated statement, and was entirely inad- 
missible. 

8. The United States of Colombia and Ecuador in 1864. Referred to a 
citizen of each state (Ecuador and Colombia), who, with an umpire or arbi- 
trator, should undertake " the mutual adjustment of claims," which was done 
successfully. 

9. The United States and Venezuela in 1866. Claims by citizens of the 
United States against the government of Venezuela. Referred to a com- 
mission. Award in favor of the former. 

10. The United States and Peru in 1868. 

11. The United States and Brazil in 1870. 

12. Japan and Peru in 1872. Seizure of the bark Maria Sury, engaged 

259 



26o APPENDIX 

in the coolie trade, and the liberation of those on board. Referred to the 
Emperor of Russia, whose decision was in favor of Japan. 

13. Great Britain and Brazil in 1873. Dundonald claims. Referred to 
the United States and Italian ministers at Rio. Gross amount of award 
against Brazilian government nearly ^40,000. 

14. Chili and Colombia in 1880. Dispute relative to the transportation of 
arms for Peru across the Isthmus of Panama. Referred to the President 
of the United States. 

15. Chili and Argentine Republic (about the Straits of Magellan and their 
land boundaries) in 1881. Referred to the United States ministers to those 
countries. Boundaries settled, Straits of Magellan neutralized. 

16. Great Britain and Chili in 1884 (about damages incurred by their sub- 
jects in the war between Chili and Peru). Referred to a commission con- 
sisting of three members, one to be nominated by the Emperor of Brazil. 

17. France and Chili. Similar claims. Referred to a similar commis- 
sion. 

18. Italy and Chili. Similar claims. Referred to a similar commission. 

19. In 1889, between Brazil, La Plata and the Argentine Republic. A 
question of boundary. Referred to President Harrison of the United States, 
whose decision was accepted. 

For the benefit of those who wish to pursue the study of this subject more 
in detail, I append the following list of books and authors. 

"Agriculture in South America," " Andes and Amazon," Orton. 

Almond Barns. Published by the "South America" (illustrated), 

Department of Agriculture, Wash- Macoy. 

ington. " Equatorial Forests," Stuart. 

" Bureau of South American Repub- " Cuba and Porto Rico," Trumbull. 

lies," State Department, Washing- "Wanderings in South America," 

ton. Waterton. 

" Antiquities," Wright. "Colonial History of South Amer- 
" Life of William Wheelwright," ica," Markham. 

Alberdi. " Spanish and Portuguese South 
" South American Trade," Balcazar. America during the Colonial Pe- 
" Equatorial America," Ballou. riod," Watson. 

" South American Travel," Baxley. " San Martin," Mitre. 

" A Thousand Miles' Walk," Bishop. " America Poetica." 

" Spanish-American' Republics," " Mexican and South American 

Child. Poems." 

" Visit to South America," Clark. " The Neglected Continent," Guiness. 

" Tropical America," Ford. " Notes of a Naturalist," Ball. 

" Life and Nature under the Tropics," " Life in the Argentine," Sarmiento. 
Myers. Translated by Mrs. Horace Mann. 



APPENDIX 



26l 



Bartolome de las Casas. 

Garcilasso de la Vega. 

" Peru," Markham. 

" L'Empire des Incas," Wiener. 

" Rites and Laws of the Incas," 
Markham. 

"War between Chili and Peru," 
Markham. 

" Conquest of Peru," Prescott. 

" Myths of the New World," Brinton. 

" Peruvian Antiquities." 

Helps. 

" Fables and Rites of the Incas," Mo- 
lina. 

Sarmiento. 

" History of America," Robertson. 

" Travels in Peru," Temple. 

" South American Republics," Curtis. 

"Antiquarian Researches in New 
Granada, Ecuador, Peru and Chili, " 
Bollaert. 

" Ornaments from the Huai 
(Tombs)," Bryce M. Wright. 

" South America," Humboldt. 

"Basil Hall's Journal." 

"From China to Peru," Howard 
Vincent. 

" South America," Niles. 

" Between the Amazon and the An- 
des," Mulhall. 

" From Lima to Peru and down the 
Amazon," Smith. 

" Up the Amazon," Mathews. 

' ' The Arbitration of the United 
States," Professor Moore. 

Documents relating to President John 
Q. Adams's message in regard to 
the conventions in South America 
(in 1825). 

Official reports of International 
American Congress (1889-90). 

" History of Don F. Miranda's At- 
tempt to Effect a Revolution in 
South America," James Briggs. 



" Memoirs of Simon Bolivar," Du- 

coudray-Holstein. 
Mosquera. 

" Life of Bolivar," Felipe Larrazabal. 
" Narrative and Critical History of 

America," edited by Winsor. 
" North American Review," January, 

1829. 

PRESIDENTS OF COLOMBIA 

1 8 19. Bolivar. 

1831-32. Jose Maria Obando. 

1832-37. General Santander. 

1837-41. Jose Ignacio Marquez. 

1841-45. Pedro Alcantara Herran. 

1845-49. General Mosquera. 

1849-52. General Lopez. 

1854-55. Jose Maria Obando. 

1857-61. Marino Ospina. 

1861-64. General Mosquera. 

1864-66. Manuel Murillo-Toro. 

1866-67. General Mosquera. 

1868-70. Santos Gutierrez. 

1872-74. Manuel Murillo-Toro. 

1874-76. Santiago Perez. 

PRESIDENTS OF ARGENTINA 



1826-27. 


Bernardino Rivadavia. His 




administration was fol- 




lowed by the government 




of the tyrants, from 1829 




to 1852. 


1852-53. 


General Urquiza, provi- 




sional Dictator. 


1853-60. 


General Urquiza, consti- 




tutional President. 


1862-68. 


Bartolome" Mitre. 


1868-74. 


Domingo Faustino Sar- 




miento. 


1874-80. 


Nicolas Avellaneda. 


1880-86. 


General Julio A. Roca. 


1886-90. 


Miguel Juarez Celman. 


1890-92. 


Carlos Pellegrini. 


1892-98. 


Dr. Luis Saenz Pefia. 



262 



APPENDIX 



PRESIDENTS OF PERU 

1827-29. Jos£ Lamar. 

1829-33. Gamarra. 

1835-36. Salaverry (the poet). 

1836-39. Santa Cruz. 

1839-43. Gamarra. 

1845-51. General Ramon Castilla. 

1851-55. General Echenique. 

1855-59. General Pamon Castilla. 

1862-63. San Roman. 

1863-65. General Pezet. 

1865-68. General Prado. 

1868-72. Jose Balta. 

1876-79. General Prado. 

1879-81. Nicolas de Pierola. 

1881-83. Francisco Garcia Calderon. 

1883-85. General Iglesias. 

1886-90. General Caceres. 

1890. General Bermudez. 



1870. Guzman Blanco, Dictator. 
1873-88. Guzman Blanco, constitu- 
tional President. 

PRESIDENTS OF ECUADOR 



PRESIDENTS OF CHILI 



1817-23. 

1823-27. 
1827-29. 

183O-3I. 
183I-4L 



184I-51. 
1851-61. 
l86l-7I. 
1871-76. 



General O'Higgins, Dic- 
tator. 

General Freire, Dictator. 

General Pinto, under a con- 
stitution. 

Jose Tomas Ovalle. 

General Prieto. 

The present constitutionwas 
promulgated in 1833. 

General Bulnes. 

Manuel Montt. 

Jose Joaquin Perez. 

Federico Errazuriz. 



PRESIDENTS OF VENEZUELA 

1813. Bolivar, Dictator. 

1831-35. General Paez. 
1839-43. General Paez. 
1864. Present federal constitu- 
tion proclaimed. 



1830-35- 


Juan Jos£ Flores. 


1835-39- 


Vicente Rocafuerte. 


1839-45- 


Juan Jose Flores. 


1845-49. 


Vicente Ramon Roca. 


1850. 


Diego Noboa. 


1856-59. 


Francisco Robles. 


1859-61. 


Gabriel Garcia Moreno, 




chief of the provisional 




government. 


1861-65. 


Gabriel Garcia Moreno. 


1868-69. 


Javier Espinosa. 


1869-75. 


Gabriel Garcia Moreno. 


1875-76. 


Borrero. 


1876-83. 


Ignacio Veintemilla. 


1883-88. 


Jose Maria Placido Caa-- 




mano. 



1888-92. Antonio Flores. 



PRESIDENTS OF BOLIVIA 



1826-28. 

1828. 

1829-33. 

1836-39. 

1839-4I. 

1841-47. 
1847-48. 

1848-55. 

I855-58- 
1858-61. 
1861-65. 
1865-71. 
1871-72. 
I873-74. 



Antonio JosiS de Sucre. 
Marshal Santa Cruz. 
General Agustin Gamarra. 
Marshal Santa Cruz. 
General Jose Miguel de 

Velasco. 
General Jos^ Ballivian. 
General Jose Miguel de 

Velasco. 
General Manuel Isidoro 

Belzu. 
Jorge Cordova. 
Jose Maria Linares. 
Jose Maria Acha. 
General Mariano Melgarejo. 
General Agustin Morales. 
Adolfo Ballivian. 



APPENDIX 263 

FEET. 

PRESIDENTS OF BRAZIL ^ . 

Bogota 8,732 

1889-91. Republic proclaimed. Gen- Arequipa 7,852 

eral Fonseca placed at the 

head of the provisional THE HIGH PEAKS OF THE ANDES 

government. feet. 

1891. General Fonseca elected Aconcagua 23,910 

President. Chimborazo 20,498 

1891-94. General Peixoto. Sorata 21,286 

1894. Prudente Moraes. Elected HHmani 20,952 

for four years. Tupangato 21, 149 

Cayambe 19, 534 

POPULATION OF SOUTH AMERICAN Cotopaxi 19,600 

cities Tolima 18,420 

Antisana 13,300 

(Census 1890) 

Buenos Ayres 720,000 the great rivers of south 

Rio de Janeiro 700,000 AMERICA 

t r • i MILES. 

Montevideo 175,000 

J Amazon 3,270 

Bahia 200,000 ._ . , 

Orinoco 1,600 

Pernambuco . , 130,000 . , , _. 

Rio de la Plata 2, 500 

Valparaiso 125,000 

r Magdalena 960 

Bogota 1 10,000 . . 

& Maranon 450 

Lima 101,000 TT 

Uruguay 1,020 

Para 100,000 _, 

_ . Parana 2,200 

Rosario 100,000 _ „ 

„ . „ Paraguay 1, 000 

Quito 80,000 „ % . 

~~ _ • „ San i rancisco 1,400 

La Paz 80,000 __. 

„, Xingu 1.300 

Caracas 70,000 ™ , . . , 

' Tokantuis i»300 

Barranquilla 65,000 

Cartagena 16,000 / 00 \ 

s ' MILEAGE OF RAILWAYS (1889) 

La Guayra 14,000 

Bolivar 1 1,000 Argentina 6,940 

Concepcion 1 1,000 Brazil 5, 700 

Araure 10,000 Peru 1)630 

Uruguay 445 

THE HIGH CITIES OF SOUTH Venezuela 183 

AMERICA 

FEET. VALUES IN SOUTH AMERICAN COIN 

Oroya Railroad (tunnel) 15)645 ( x 897) 

Potosi (Bolivia) 13,33° u. s. gold (cents). 

Cuzco 1 1,380 Argentine Republic, peso 96. 5 

La Paz 10,883 Brazil, mzlreis 54.0 

Quito 9,543 Chili, peso 36.5 



264 



APPENDIX 



U. S. GOLD (CENTS). FINE OUNCES. VALUE. 

Venezuela, bolivar 19.3 Brazil 120,950 2,500,000 

Bolivia, boliviano 48.6 Chili 33,866 700,000 

Peru, sol 48.6 Colombia 188,682 3,900,000 

Colombia, peso 48.6 Ecuador 3>87o 80,000 

Guiana (British). . 125,000 2,583,965 

gold production of south Guiana (Dutch). . . 26,685 551,618 

AMERICA Guiana (French) . . 78,700 1,626,941 

fine ounces. value. Peru 7> 2 5^ 150,000 

Argentina 4,838 100,000 Uruguay 7)256 150,000 

Bolivia 3,628 75, 000 Venezuela 41, 123 850,000 



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